Fate: Recourse Light
by Hieda no Akyuu
Summary: A departure from standard FGO lore in a not-so-Nasuverse world. Following the 2016 Grand Order incident, Chaldea has since shifted its focus to the present and near future, employing contractual but talented mages to help them monitor and resolve various singularities that are beginning to emerge around the world, and one such mage is called upon to handle one.
1. It's Always Sunny in California

**A/N:**

 **I didn't think I would get into mobile games. Even when I heard about Grand Order from my friend who's a total Type Moon slave, I wasn't all that interested. Then it came out on NA, and suddenly here I am wondering where all my free time and some $500 went.**

 **And now here I am, writing a fanfic about it. Oh boy, as if I don't have enough on my plate already.**

 **Please read below for an unnecessary amount of disclaimers that will hopefully keep this fanfic from being as hated as my other one:**

 **This fanfic will be not be based on any of the story arcs featured in Grand Order; rather, it'll be more based on my personal "adventures" with the game and the servants who I happened to roll. If anything, this story will only be loosely based on the story arcs as they appear in order in Grand Order. In addition, the only servants who will be featured (due to the fact that there are so many characters in Grand Order, even on the NA version) will be 4-stars and 5-stars and whoever else I like enough to have featured in this fanfic. Please don't get offended if your favorite servant doesn't show up here (or be offended, it's up to you, really).**

 **I am not a Type Moon slave, and I do not know the Nasuverse in and out. The world in which this fanfic is set, therefore, will not strictly be set in a Nasuverse-like setting, though I will try my best to make sure that this fanfic follows Nasuverse lore as closely as possible, so if there are any mistakes in terms of lore, by all means feel free to correct me and I will try my best to make revisions wherever possible (unless I specifically say I want certain things to be the way I write them). I foresee myself making plenty of mistakes when it comes to this, and most likely what will end up happening is that I will simply be inserting my own headcanon into this fanfic due to my relative lack of intimacy with the characters and their designs, so whenever you get triggered that I miss or screw up some details about how certain things should be, try not to be and just remind yourself that this is only a fanfiction written by a guy who's never even watched Fate Zero in its entirety. (I should really get on that.)**

 **If you know me from other stories, you will know that I have a tendency to write** ** _very_** **strong OC main characters. This fanfic may or may not be an exception to this trend. At the time of writing this Author's Note, I still don't know my OC's design or even name, so whatever follows after this is just a shot in the dark, both for me as a writer and you as a reader. So if you're the kind who absolutely** ** _detests_** **OC's that even** ** _hint_** **at being Gary Stu's or Mary Sue's or whatever else fanfic lingo exists out there to denote overpowered original characters, then this fanfic is probably not for you.**

 **Finally, because I am mainly concentrating most of my efforts on writing another fanfic, this story will not be updated frequently - at best, I only see myself updating this story maybe once a week. Who knows, maybe I may even end up abandoning this story too if I just feel like I can't spare any time for it at all. But for now, at least, while I've got this little extra bit of fire in me to at least start this story, I'll see how far I go before that fire burns out.**

 **(EDIT 3/27/18)**

 **The above portion of this A/N was written when I first published this fanfic under the FGO archive. Upon insistence from one of my readers, I've since moved it here to the FSN archive instead, so everything above the edit tag is seven months old and thus outdated.**

 **I now intend to update this fic on a semi-regular basis, now that I've gotten the feel for how I want to pace my own writing and the direction in which I'd like to take this fic. I also intend to base the arcs of this fic on those seen in Grand Order, but with a personal twist to them and perhaps some original content as well, though I'll have to see how that pans out.**

 **Everything else, however, is still up for grabs.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

A sharp clack rattles the air of my office as I set down the phone receiver back down onto its port.

Damn those idiots over at that one trucking agency...their drivers are good, but the goddamn people who handle their logistics are ass. Maybe if I used that agency more often for more of my shipments, I'd consider giving the guy who runs the place a call and tell him to fire half his office staff, because they hardly do shit. Thankfully it's only that one trucking agency, all the other ones I work with aren't bad. At least, not as bad as this one.

I make some last few notes with a red pen on the delivery order papers in a few manila folders, now that I've yelled at them to give me their container delivery times. This one's tomorrow at nine in the morning, this one's at ten, and this one's also at nine. This one got pulled over for MET examination, so we'll set that aside for now. With these notes written, I gather them up, stack them neatly together, and lean over to the racks of manila folders I've got standing on a separate desk next to my main desk, and I file those folders accordingly by my self-designated reference numbers.

And with that, so ends my daily morning work routine. Now time to get some lunch.

As I get up from my chair, I swipe my right hand from left to right, like I'm handling a large touchscreen monitor. In response, a non-standard light blue rune pops up out of thin air before me, showing me a set of four small panels. They don't have any words or letters, just symbols, and one of them has a familiar power symbol. I tap it, and my fingers physically get stopped by the panel floating in the air before me, which blinks with a brighter shade of blue for a moment to confirm my selection as the other panels shimmer out of view rather nicely and beautifully. The panel I've selected then drops down a list of three more options, labelled "Turn Off Peripherals", "Power Down Computer", and "Shut Down All", in that order. I tap the second option, and my Windows 7 operating system gives me its usual farewell screen and powers down, and the monitor automatically turns itself off once the computer is fully powered down.

Heading down the stairs to head into my kitchen, I open the refrigerator up to see if I've got anything left that's worth cooking that'll fit my appetite this afternoon. My eyes are quite disappointed at what they see when they peer inside - a few strips of bacon inside its mashed up and deflated plastic bag, several heads of lettuce and carrots, a few bottles of 99-cent Coca-Cola, Seagram's, and Cherry Sprite that are all half-drunk, and one last unopened package of Ham and American Cheese Lunchables.

Sometimes I ask myself if I'll ever graduate from having super kiddie tastes. And every time I do, I always tell myself, nope, not happening.

It's not like anyone else lives here, so why should I care what the contents of my fridge look like? The only person who's ever going to look into it on a regular basis is me.

Still, this isn't necessarily a good stock to make lunch out of, unless I make some weird fusion cuisine stuff that I honestly don't want to do. And I already ate two Lunchables yesterday because I was feeling too lazy to go out and buy groceries after the shitshow I trudged through during work, so eating that last one is out of the question, simply because I like variety in my life, more than I like being lazy. Talk about inadequate reasons for motivation...

I check my rice cooker. Purple rice, mixed with cooked slices of mushrooms inside. I've been putting in efforts to make my diet healthier over the years - maybe it's a side effect of growing older, but I can't confirm - and part of the efforts have been dedicated to expanding my rice intake from just plain old white rice to other types of rice. One recipe I saw online suggested mixing in mushrooms that can cook along with the rice, and since I like mushrooms well enough, I did just that, and I don't have a single regret since. So I do have plenty of rice, and when I check the cupboard right above my rice cooker, there's a few stubby shakers of furikake, or rice seasoning. I've lived entire days off nothing but rice and furikake before, so pulling the trigger on this is trivially easy for me, but I resist. I'll be a proper adult and go buy some goddamn groceries so that I don't have to feel like a downright degenerate who lives on nothing but Lunchables, rice with furikake, and Cherry Sprite.

With this in mind, I swipe my hand from left to right in front of my chest again, and the set of four panels pop up again. This time, I tap the panel on the far left, which has a simple calendar icon on it, and while the other panels shimmer away as usual, this panel rises up slightly and drops down another list of panels - which holds some eleven more panels that drape all the way down to the floor. It's like clicking on the full menu on the start button of a Microsoft Windows operating system. Only cooler, I suppose.

I tap another panel that says "Agenda", and that, too, opens up another, thankfully much tinier list of panels, only three this time, which say "Reminders", "Notes", and "Shopping List". The specificity amuses me. I tap "Shopping List", and everything goes away, in favor of one empty panel that floats before me, waiting for my command.

"Grocery shopping. We need...let's see..." I open my fridge back up again. "Swiss cheese, barbecue sauce, garlic, clovers, onions, apples, peaches, bananas, Chipotle ribs, ham, samgyupsal, short ribs, and kimchi."

The panel records everything I say, and when I'm done, I tap the panel again, and it blinks in confirmation and sweeps itself away, bringing the previous panel back up. I take both hands this time and swipe them shortly together, and the panel list squeezes itself in and disappears, shimmering out of sight. I glance back into my fridge, and in the bottom shelf of the right fridge door, I spy my half-consumed bottle of Sayuri.

I squeeze my hand, and the recording panel pops up again.

"And Sayuri," I add and the panel blinks again in confirmation before disappearing again.

This morning's work was busy, so I head downstairs to my garage to open the door up so that I can reach my mailbox - mail comes by at ten in the morning every day, give or take half an hour - it depends on the driver and how much mail they're carrying, really. It's convenient, though, since I can just make lunch and check my mailbox while it's cooking and come back up to sort the mail while eating. Today, I have been able to enjoy no such luxury, but mail is important, especially for my business, so it's not like I have a choice.

It's another beautiful day out here in Southern California. An everlasting, uplifting blue sky marred only slightly but artistically with streaks of white feathers that we humans like to call clouds, the sun beaming down radiantly as can be. I nod hello to my next door neighbor, a very kind, elderly black man who loves to spend nice and quiet afternoon days on the driveway of his townhouse unit sitting on a porch chair and reading either the newspaper or a book on Sundays in one hand with a bottle of Angry Orchard's in the other - or in the porch chair's cup holder. He used to work for Raytheon, retired now - we've had a couple of pleasant conversations before about defense systems and what the United States is working on next; myself being somewhat of a military technologies enthusiast, it's obvious that the two of us share a common interest worth talking about together.

Closing the mailbox cover and pushing it up, making sure to set the little red flag that's standing up against the mailbox down, I walk back into my garage while sorting through the letters. Since I'm already dressed to go out, I'll just sort the mail right here and put them down on the stairs just past my door so that I'll remember to take them up with me back to my office.

The last letter catches my eye - specifically, the seal stamped boldly and almost menacingly on the front. The seal itself is so big that the delivery address - that is, _my_ address - is literally squeezed along the very right of the letter in handwriting. I recognize both of them, the seal and the handwriting. This is from the Chaldea Security Organization...or just Chaldea for short.

I now feel bad for the USPS guy, and everyone else who had to handle this letter. With a few exceptions, most members of well-established magical lineages and families aren't all _that_ acclimated to modern culture. Olga's, well...just the same way, I guess.

Leaning against the shotgun door of my Mercedes E-300 Sedan, I set the other letters and catalogues aside on the hood of my car to open this one from Chaldea and read it.

* * *

 _Olga-Marie Animusphere  
Chaldea Security Organization Headquarters  
Dated 17th April, 2017 A.D._

 _Dear Mr. Chang Gyun Augustus Il,_

 _I currently write to inform you of dire news - Dr. Romani Archaman and his team has informed me that through SHIVA, they have detected the imminent development of an S-Class singularity in your immediate vicinity. While details about this singularity are still being researched by Dr. Archaman and his team, we can provide several general details for you now: this singularity should be enough to cover an area that occupies not only your current town of residence of Tierra del Illamas, but also the adjacent several towns of Nelson, Archibrod, and Watson Estates, and the southern half of the major city of Los Angeles. And as expected of an S-Class singularity, you must be prepared to fight Wanderers, along with possible Rogues._

 _It is for these reasons that, upon the authority of the Animusphere Family, I have authorized the deployment of Team A Leader Matthew Kyrielight and have dispatched her to rendezvous with you on the early afternoon of 19th April, 2017. For the purposes of this assignment, she carries in her possession the Guardian Heroic Spirit Summoning System, or the 'FATE' device. I strongly recommend that you prepare for her arrival by completing the steps necessary to revise your current magical position as a 'Master'. Once you have rendezvoused with her, immediately complete a contract with her so that she may be able to assume her Demi-Servant status and begin working under you as your Servant and activate FATE._

 _I am under the assumption that you are familiar with the FATE device and system; if not, please refer to Ms. Kyrielight for advice on its use. And having taken your current living circumstances into consideration, I have also decided that you will easily be able to accommodate the Heroic Spirits you summon as Servants through FATE and thus will not be providing you with financial support, but Chaldean reinforcements are on standby at your disposal, should you deem it necessary. Again, please refer to Ms. Kyrielight for further details about this matter._

 _For your convenience, please allow Ms. Kyrielight to handle all after-action reports; for this assignment, I would rather you focus on the assignment's objectives at hand, for the scale and threat of it are too great to take lightly. And speaking of objectives, I will inform Ms. Kyrielight of new and updated objectives as we continue to monitor the singularity's conditions, and she will relay them to you for you and your Servants to complete. Should you have any inquiries, please first direct them to Ms. Kyrielight; she should be able to handle most of them, and if not, please contact Dr. Archaman or Ms. Da Vinci._

 _Your rendezvous location and time with Ms. Kyrielight are listed below the signature. As this is the first time she is traveling to the West Coast of the United States, please make sure to meet her in a timely fashion._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Olga-Marie Animusphere  
2nd Chaldeas Security Organization President_

* * *

April 19th...would be today. Talk about a sudden development. I'm not reading the script for an anime, am I? And I _just_ finished Youjo Senki, too. Good anime, by the way, ten out of ten would recommend.

Sighing a little, I fold up the letter. I immediately recognize the address - it's at a big recreational park in the adjacent town - more like city - of Nelson called Nelson Park...surprise surprise. I understand why they would pick that place, since it's a big open area where you won't look suspicious at all just hanging out by yourself, since lots of people meet there anyways for weekly sporting games like pickup basketball, soccer, tag/flag football, or baseball, besides the rest of the ton of people who go visit the park simply to have picnics or take walks along the park's extensive walking paths. The problem is that Nelson Park is actually surprisingly big, in no small part due to the hills that divide the park more or less into three almost distinct sections that could all be parks in their own rights.

Not that that's going to be a problem at all in the first place. I just like to think about stuff...contemplate why things are the way they are. I'm well aware that my constant thinking has made some people I know very angry in the past - and one of them just happens to be the one who's penned this letter I've just read.

Then it seems that my agenda for today's been set in stone for me, which honestly is something of a relief. What's going to come _after_ that won't be. Another singularity? It hasn't been that long since I handled another one further up north, specifically in Northern California. Had to take a week off work to go handle that, and with no compensation from Chaldea because Olga's the biggest tight-ass in the world when it comes to both the Chaldean treasury and the Animusphere family fortune. It's not even the pile of work that I found stacked up electronically in my office, waiting for me when I returned home from that previous singularity that pisses me off, it's the fact that the leader of this organization that employs me as a contractual mage, who not only is extremely wealthy on her own as a successful spokesperson on the subject of global magic propagation to the various first-world countries around the globe but also is the heir of one of the most influential and richest families on the face of the planet, won't send me a fucking check for a week's worth of lost income. And this isn't supposed to be some kind of anti-patrician commentary about how the 1% always hoard their money, I just think Olga is an asshole for drafting me for a singularity that isn't even in my area _and_ refuses to compensate me for lost time at my own personal line of business, beyond my monthly contract of employment with Chaldea, simply because she cited my drafting as "justified in the context of an imminent S-Class singularity".

Which means she probably won't compensate me for what's about to happen here, too, but I guess I wouldn't mind that _too_ much, since it's right in my own town of residence. I'll just have to remember not to get her a quart of Häagen-Dazs if and when I get summoned to Chaldea.

I'm ranting now. And I do that a lot...to myself. Normally that'd be a problem, but I've gotten pretty good at keeping my rants to myself and not bothering other people with them. Partially because usually, for about three hundred and sixty five days of the year, I don't have anyone to rant _to_. It's better that way, though, honestly.

I check the time - it is now roughly a quarter past one, and the time of the rendezvous is scheduled for two o'clock. I've got some time, so since I'm going to be meeting with Miss Kyrielight, it's probably a good idea to tidy up and at least make an effort to look presentable - she is, after all, one of Chaldea's most trusted and most valued employees, and to make a bad impression on her would mean an almost-certain pay cut on my contract, despite my contract not expiring until the last day of the year. Damn sub-clauses...sometimes I wonder if being a businesswoman wouldn't suit Olga's career a little bit better.

I head back upstairs, not bothering to shut my garage door, since this town that I live in, Tierra del Illamas, is one of the safest and wealthiest towns per capita in the States, most certainly along the West Coast. I live in a townhouse unit that's practically in the center of our gated townhouse complex, and should there ever be someone suspicious snooping around, I'll know. I like taking care of my neighbors - it's a habit that I've developed quite well over the years...one of the things I'm always proud of. Is it weird that I don't think of myself as a particularly altruistic individual? Well, then again, mages in general are just weird people to begin with...many of them, that is.

Taking about fifteen minutes, I quickly shower and change my outfit - some casual black pants with plenty of pockets, a light, plain white shirt that says "WE, THE PEOPLE, THE MACHINE, AND THE BROKEN" in slanted, capitalized black letters, and a white hoodie jacket that has the kanji 滅 in light red on the back. I also don some black fingerless gloves that's starting to fray at the ends of the finger outlets, and I put on a black snapback with a picture of Samuel L. Jackson on the top of the visor and white letters outlined with red that say "SAY WHAT AGAIN!" on the front. Briefly stepping into my bathroom to give my appearance a quick lookover, I brush my short-ish bangs apart and fix my cap so that it's perfectly centered on my head.

I've only ever heard of Miss Matthew Kyrielight. Other than the unusual discrepancy between her gender and her name, I have heard of nothing but good things about her. A talented human who obtained through the Grand Order incident a year ago the power to become a Demi-Servant, a unique cross between a human and a servant - a unprecedented phenomenon that puts her in, well, a unique position among the mages of the world all on its own. Even without this peculiar quirk, she is apparently a very hard worker, selfless and unfaltering, and most importantly, tested by trials of fire, pain, and suffering. But, like I said, I've never actually seen her in person, not even so much as a photo of her - I'm sure this is to protect her identity from potential rival magic organizations throughout the world who wish to "employ" her talents for various _other_ goals and ends.

They say that it is always a great honor and privilege for anyone who is fortunate enough to meet her, let alone work with her for an assignment. I'll hold my judgment until I actually meet her for myself - but at least the prospects are looking good. I know what it feels like to have to meet with people whom you already know you're not going to get along well with, and truth be told - that shit sucks. Depends on the people, though, to be fair.

I hit the light and stop at the top of the stairs of my three-story townhouse unit, looking around on this top floor at the bedrooms here. Admittedly the details given to me on Olga's letter aren't very...well, specific, since I don't know how many Heroic Spirits whom I'll be summoning as my Servants will show up in the first place. This place has three rooms, the master bedroom and two smaller guest rooms, and I'm using the master bedroom as both my office and my bedroom. I would have preferred to use one of the smaller rooms, since I'm one of those very weird people who like smaller, more confined places as living quarters, but the efficient monster in me that prioritizes efficiency over all else as much as possible has turned me to the dark side with this issue and has compelled me to put my office and my bedroom together into one room, since it can easily accommodate the space I need for both - plus, it even comes with its own bathroom, which is equipped with a dedicated shower stall rather than a bathtub. So as far as the rooms are concerned, I can only accommodate two Servants, and after that, well, I suppose it'll be a fight for who gets to sleep on the floor and who gets to sleep on the couch. There could be a very real chance that I'll have to invest in another new home entirely just to be able to provide adequate living quarters for the Servants who'll be showing up...and it'll definitely complicate matters as time goes on, assuming more Servants join us to participate in this upcoming singularity.

Heading down the stairs all the way down to the garage, with the keys to my Mercedes already in the left pocket of my black pants, my phone in my right, and my wallet in the big pocket on my right pants sleeve, I slide into the driver's seat, start the engine with a simple push of a button, and back my car out of the garage, pressing a button on the garage door opener device clipped to the right foldable visor to shut the door, and wave goodbye to my neighbor, who waves back.

Now that I think about it, I've never asked for his name. And even more weirdly, he's never asked for mine. How interesting.

* * *

The heavy electric guitars of Mick Gordon blast from the stereo of my car as I cruise down the main street to get to Nelson Park. Being a weekday, and at this time, traffic is great, with the only obstacles to a smooth, continuous drive being the traffic lights and intersections. It's probably really weird to other people when they realize that some metalhead is blasting heavy rock from a _Mercedes_ , but I've seen stranger things. I've got my mind on other thoughts to begin with, like why Olga, to this day, doesn't believe in modern human technologies concerning instant communication. That letter she sent, she could have easily just sent me an email instead and given me more days to prepare for Miss Kyrielight's arrival. Not that my house is a complete mess - I'm not clean freak with OCD about always keeping everything tidy, but it's a good feeling knowing that I live and work in a home that isn't completely fucking trashed. One of my childhood friends whom I've known since technically elementary school lives like a slob, and I don't envy him whatsoever. But returning to Olga, she just refuses to do it. They know my email address, I've seen it specifically registered in their records when I asked them to show me the last time I was there, but...mages. Especially those from the big families, the "one-percenter" families, as I half-jokingly like to call them. At the very least, I'm grateful that Olga sent that letter through international priority mail, otherwise there would've been no way for me to know this, and I'm not exactly confident that Miss Kyrielight has any of my contact information, and in such a case, it would not surprise me at all if that were due to Olga's classic negligence of providing a dispatched Chaldean employee with adequate contact information, because she always assumes that everyone knows each other in Chaldea - which couldn't be any more wrong. Being the President of Chaldea, one could say that she's too _busy_ working on other crap and tending to her own daily agenda to really sit down and get a firm grasp of just how huge of an organization Chaldea has truly become.

And I don't expect her to any time soon. Disappointing, but...not worth blowing my brains out over. Some things, maybe, but not this one.

I drive into the positively _massive_ parking lot of Nelson Park - the park designers certainly had good foresight to give the park ample parking, given the size of this park. Take a shot every time I say the word "park" - and I'd laugh at myself if my own last name were Park, too. As it's still mid-afternoon, there aren't that many people here, so I help myself to a spot right next to the park, nearest to the two baseball fields that face each other in perpendicular fashion. I get out and lock the doors to my car, crossing over a strip of grass to step onto the sidewalk as my Mercedes beeps once to confirm my lock. I've already checked the time through the digital clock on the top of my car's dashboard, which would be 1:52pm. Meaning that, in order for me to not be late, I would have roughly eight minutes to search for and locate Miss Kyrielight. Enlightening math, let me tell ya.

Eight minutes is clearly not nearly enough time to search the _entire_ park, not one of this size, anyway. As much as I like doing things the good old-fashioned way, these circumstances call for some extra assistance. I haven't sensed anyone with a magical signature in my detectable vicinity, which means that if Miss Kyrielight is indeed already here and waiting for me, she's disguising herself _very_ well as an ordinary human being.

Which shouldn't be surprising, if you think about it. She was, at one point, human. Or so they say, at least.

I almost lazily raise my right hand and snaps my fingers. The crack that gets produced due to the sharp friction I generate between the flats of my middle finger and thumb reverberates, sending sound waves in all directions around me, and I listen for any magical frequencies that bounce back. And sure enough, almost instantly, one does bounce back - meaning that she is very close to me. I face the direction in which my snap points me, and there, at a bench about, let's say, forty meters to my left, along the sidewalk, sits a girl with neck-length light purple hair with monstrously long bangs that hide her glasses, allowing only her left eye, which is also purple, though a richer shade of it, to peek out and down at her lap, on which a _very_ long-haired pet that clearly is not a species indigenous to normal animal existence. It looks like a cat, though. Just with a huge mane, a tail that seems to be made out of nothing but locks of flowing white hair, and with rabbit ears that turn gradient blue up towards the tips and magenta innards.

It's also wearing a capelet. How fancy.

Finding my person of interest, I walk over to her. And as I do, once I get within, say, twenty meters of her, she looks up slowly, straight up at me.

And that's when I realize one thing, and just one more thing.

Like me, she wears glasses.


	2. Matthew Kyrielight

The moment I stop before Miss Kyrielight, the capelet-donning cat/dog/whatever kind of pet it really is stands up from her lap, gazing up at me, and before long, it says one thing to me, and one thing only:

"Fou!"

As if it wasn't insanely obvious that this creature is not a normal animal, I can sense a tiny amount of magical energy resonating from it. I get the sense that, while it certainly possesses potential for a much larger magical energy capacity, it's somehow spent much of it on something else. So it's one of those magical beasts that I've heard of.

I clear my throat so that we can begin talking.

"Miss Kyrielight?" I ask the short purple-haired girl before me. She also has on a white hoodie jacket with gray sleeves and bottoms, but what she wears underneath is certainly unique: a sleeveless black pleated dress shirt with a folded white collar, adorned with a red two big dark gray diamonds intersecting one another along the bottom. I see no sign of any pants or dress or skirt, even - she literally only has black pantyhose on, with a high fiber content that makes it very dense and dark. There's a fashion term for that, but since I obviously don't wear pantyhose or have no reason to go near them at all, the term isn't coming to me at the moment.

The moment I speak her name, her blank expression suddenly warms up, and the corners of her lips rise up to a pleasant but professional smile. Fou steps off her lap onto the bench so that Miss Kyrielight can stand up and greet me properly.

"Mr. Il, I presume?" she speaks, in a perfect American accent. Her voice is crisp, eager, and pleasant - if this were an interview, she'd've already scored big points, since her voice is just perfect for white-collar job interviews.

"That would be me. You can just call me Augustus, or August if you prefer."

"August..." Miss Kyrielight smiles again. "...I...I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but...I think it'll take me some getting used to, to have to address you as a month of the year."

"That's rich, coming from a girl whose first name is 'Matthew'."

Miss Kyrielight just blinks at me for a few seconds.

"...um...d-did no one tell you...?" she asks me hesitantly.

"Tell me what?"

"That...um...my...my name isn't 'Matthew'," she explains slowly.

"...then if it's not Matthew, what is it?"

"Mash."

It's my turn to blink back at her. I have to raise my hand up to my nose so that I can pinch in between my eyebrows, because I'm having a hard time processing this. Have I been working too much the past week? Or am I _actually_ a confirmed lightweight, for me to get tilted off just half a bottle of Sayuri?

"Excuse me, I don't...think I heard that right. _What_ did you say your name was?" I ask for a repeat.

"Mash. Mash Kyrielight."

I set my hand on her left shoulder, which startles her a little.

"Miss Kyrielight," I sigh slowly.

"Y-Yes...?" she stammers. Her reaction is understandable, since I'm putting her on the spot right now, but trust me, this is for a good reason, I swear.

"I regret to inform you that due to my own personal guidelines of human nomenclature, I insist that I be able to continue to call you Matthew," I say.

"...but...did you not just say that...it was a little weird for me to - "

"Ignore that."

"I-Is there a particular reason for...for this...?"

I take my hand off her shoulder so that I'm not making her feel any more awkward than she needs to be.

"Because I feel very, _very_ sorry for you, that your name, out of all the things your name could have been, just _had_ to be something like _Mash."_

Poor Miss Kyrielight just stands there, not knowing what to make of my insistent behavior over something so goddamn trivial.

"...well...if...if you insist, then...given our circumstances, there would be...no reason for me to dissuade you," she mumbles, fidgeting cutely. "It's just that, um...I...I might need some time to adjust, and...and respond to your calls whenever you address me as 'Matthew' instead of 'Mash'..."

"Good. Thank you, because otherwise I would be stuck with calling you 'Miss Kyrielight' for the rest of this assignment. And I'm not sure how much you'd prefer that over this."

"I-I take it that you don't...particularly like the name 'Mash'?"

"Because that's not a name. That's an action. As in, 'I mash potatoes'. That sort of thing." I shake my head. "I'm sorry, I dragged that out way longer than I needed to, it's just...I feel really awkward having to call you Mash all the time. I now realize that I would rather call you Matthew instead, because at least that's a proper name, even if it's originally meant for the other gender."

Matthew just gives me a very awkward chuckle, one that clearly betrays her initial sentiments about me. She _definitely_ thinks I'm gonna be another fucking weirdo who's going to be hard to work with. I know people enough to read their sentiments - I know what emotions sound and look like when conveyed through body language and conversational audio cues.

So I decide not to butcher our first meeting any further and straighten my back to get down to business.

"In any case, I hope your travels haven't been hard on you," I tell her. "Would you care for some lunch? Unless you've already eaten, of course."

"Ah...lunch...that..." Matthew blushes as she looks away shyly. At the mention of the word "lunch", Fou also bounds over to the edge of the bench closest to us, its ears perking up and keenly listening to all the next things we're about to say. "...that...would be lovely..."

"Haven't had much to eat lately?"

She shakes her head. "Miss Olga did not give us much spending money, because she believed that I would be able to rendezvous with you quickly..."

I groan aloud. "Fuck that bitch - doesn't even know anything about how the modern world works," I curse. "Sheltered bitch 'n a half, lemme tell ya. Oh well, it's good that you've survived until now, so as a celebration of sorts, I'll treat you."

"W-What would we be celebrating, may I ask?"

"You not dying of starvation."

"Ah...ahaha..."

I beckon to her to follow me, and we head back to my car. When she realizes which car is mine, Matthew lets out a small cry of amazement and hurries over.

"Ohhh...a luxury car!" she marvels with the most genuine excitement I've ever heard from a girl her age. "I've only ever seen Miss Olga and her aides drive around in these back at Chaldea. It must be nice, to be able to own one too..."

"It's just a car, though...and I don't technically _own_ it, I have it on lease."

Since the Mercedes works with a remote key, all I have to do is go right up next to my door so that my key can broadcast its signal to the car and tell it to unlock it, and the car unlocks itself for the two of us, with Matthew hopping in shotgun and Fou along with her to occupy her usual perch that is Matthew's lap. As I push the button to ignite the engine, Matthew continues to marvel, looking all around her and drinking in the atmosphere of sitting inside a Mercedes Benz sedan. And when I start pulling the car out of the parking lot, Matthew is fidgeting a lot, this time giddy with excitement and anticipation to this car ride.

"You like cars or something?" I ask her, since it's kind of impossible not to notice her pleasure of hitching a ride inside a car like this.

"Er...well...I don't think I am _partial_ to cars, necessarily, but...for some reason, it's just exciting to me whenever I ride in one like this, one that's supposed to be a luxury car..."

"It's not a luxury car. This is _far_ from a luxury car."

Matthew blinks at me. "Th-Then - what would a _real_ luxury car look like?"

"I don't know, I've never been in one."

Somewhat discouraged by my answer, Matthew nonetheless keeps her hype up as she head back down the main street so that I can take Matthew to one of my more favorite fast-food chains called Panda Express. For her, I have my music playing through Bluetooth through my phone turned off, since I can't imagine someone like Matthew taking a liking to industrial metal. Well, it's not like my phone's filled with nothing _but_ metal, I'm sure I've got some stuff that Matthew wouldn't mind listening to, but because I'm a good law-abiding citizen in the state of California, I choose not to fiddle with my phone while I'm in the middle of driving. I've also pulled down the windows, and both she and Fou seem to be enjoying the rapid breeze that pours into the car while I cruise back up the main street at some forty-five miles an hour, the legal speed limit for this street. I notice that Fou is acting just like a dog in a car with the window down - it's sticking its face out the window, letting its ears constantly whip back behind its head. With ears that long, I have to wonder if that won't hurt at all.

"Hey, Matthew, I know it's probably a little late to ask you this, but you don't have any luggage with you or anything?" I holler over at her to make sure that I'm heard over the whipping breeze.

"No, Senpai! Unless you count Fou as my luggage, which she is not!" she calls back.

"Huh. Since when was I your upperclassman?"

"Ah! I'm - I'm sorry!" Matthew puts her hands over her mouth for a moment. "I-It's a bad habit from before. I've...I've been trying my best to correct it for the sake of this assignment, but - but do forgive me if I suffer some lapses regarding it..."

"Bad habit, you say..."

"W-Well, it's just that...my previous Master...really was an upperclassman to me, so...it's what I called him, because he was Japanese."

She's probably referring to the Grand Order incident. And if the rumors I heard about it, particularly in regards to Matthew herself, are correct, then it should be in our best interest to just leave that topic alone.

"Are you fluent?" I ask, treading lightly on this subject. "If your previous Master was Japanese, then I could imagine you learning the language to communicate well with him."

"As a matter of fact, yes, I am fluent," she says. "Erm...speaking of which, you...are not Japanese, though? Your name is...of Eastern Asian origin, but I can tell it is not Japanese..."

"It's Korean," I correct her. "I'm Korean-American. But I can speak Korean, Chinese, and Japanese fluently, no problem."

"Oooh..." Matthew gives off that noise she makes when she's marveling at something. "That's amazing, Senpai. I-Is it alright for me to call you Senpai too?"

"Uhh...sure, yeah, I don't mind. I'm basically forcing you to let me call you Matthew, so...I guess with that, we're even."

"Okay!"

Matthew sounds way too happy about that.

* * *

"Ooooouuuhhh...!"

Damn, Matthew, back at it again, huh? Am I getting my dank memes right? What do you mean, I don't get a lifetime supply of fancy overpriced designer shoes?

We're now standing in line at the nearest Panda Express that I know in our area. There's a surprisingly long line here, it being barely quarter past two - normally it'd be longer later in the day. The only reason for this that I can imagine is maybe because more people than usual are having later lunches. In any case, even though I do say that the line is "long", given the fact that we can plainly see the food behind the glass, it's not really long at all. The sight of so much food freshly made and awaiting consumption, with the workers behind the counter at the kitchen that is free for the customers' viewing pleasure cooking up more orders of entrees and sides to meet demand, surely must be all terribly interesting to Matthew at the very least. I feel like I'm escorting around a sheltered rich family girl who's never been out in public doing pleb stuff and eating pleb food and is doing so for the first time in her life. While it's probably not true in Matthew's case, you still can't deny the fact that having a girl gawk at something like a fast-food chain is still a little odd, at least in the eyes of normal, non-magical human beings like everyone else in this place.

"Senpai, um...w-what should I get? Everything looks so good to eat..." Matthew prances about a little once our turn is up, though we still have to wait for the employees to take care of the customers ahead of us first. I take a cursory glance at the entrees laid out in a rough L-shape formation, behind the glass next to the counter against which we stand.

"This place is pretty famous for their orange chicken, so that's always a go-to choice," I advise her. "And how much can you eat, or do you think you can eat?"

"Um...well, I-I don't...want to be hard on your money, so - "

"My money is the least of our concerns right now. Can you eat a lot?"

Matthew shyly nods. "Y-Yes..."

"Then we're getting you a bigger plate, and you can order three entrees instead of two. So pick whatever three you'd like."

"Hello, welcome to Panda Express!" a Chinese girl wearing a Panda Express uniform greets us loudly and cheerfully with a cutely thick Cantonese accent. I've talked with her a few times, she's actually a foreign exchange student who's working here part-time during the spring semester. You would think that, for a "Chinese" fast food chain, they'd have more ethnic Chinese employees, but in actuality, here in Southern California, that's kind of a rarity. They'd be managers, sure, but just regular employees like her? It's not as commonplace down here as you might think. "What would you like?"

"S-Senpai? Um..." Matthew turns to me quickly, eyeing me to bail her out, since she doesn't know what she's being asked.

"Bigger plate for her, please," I order for her, and the Chinese girl, who recognizes me with a big ol' smile, nods and pulls out a normal two-entree plate and scribbles with a Sharpie marker on the lid, indicating that it's a three-entree order. I turn to Matthew now. "You can handle the rest, just listen to her."

Matthew nods and goes around selecting her food items - half and half, which she's heard the customer ahead of us pick, with orange chicken, honey walnut shrimp, and mushroom chicken. All solid choices. Meanwhile, Fou is walking along with Matthew down at her feet, her presence hidden so that she can enter the premises without getting thrown out for looking like a pet. I go with chow mein, teriyaki chicken with teriyaki sauce on top, and honey walnut. Normally I'd get orange chicken too, but both the teriyaki chicken and the honey walnut look too damn good to pass up.

It would seem that I've forgotten to tell Matthew to specify that our orders are supposed to be a combined order, as I find her again in a shy panic when I reach the cashier, gesturing weakly to me for help. How she's even managed to travel all the way here to Southern California without any money is beyond me, but...you know, mages.

"We're paying together," I tell the cashier, who nods and grabs my food too to add to the total. "Oh, and two small drinks, please, for here."

"You got it," the cashier replies, swiftly and expertly pulling off two tall cups from the tall stack of fountain cups with the kind of fluidity that only a cashier who's been working a job like this for months and months is able to do. "Your total's nineteen dollars and forty-seven cents."

I hand him my credit card to pay for it all, after swiping it, the cashier hands it back to me, along with our food. I pass Matthew hers, with the third entree box standing on top of her plate, and we navigate our way over to a nearby high table that can seat two or three, four if you really try.

"What kind of drink would you like? Or do you want to check out the drinks for yourself?" I ask Matthew, under the assumption that she won't be familiar with how the soda fountain machine works.

"You can, um...get me anything," she smiles back. Clearly she's more focused on the food in front of her.

"Oh, and wait until I come back, I'll bring some forks, since they don't give them to you."

I fetch our plastic utensils first, then return to the soda machine to fill up our cups. I like this particular Panda Express joint because it's the only place that I know of that features a Brisk Peach dispenser, and for some reason I like the taste of it much better over the bottled Brisks that you might find in convenience stores and the like. I figure Matthew probably won't be used to the experience of drinking soda, so I pour the both of us some Peach Brisk and return. I find Matthew already digging in before me, with Fou sniffing a piece of honey walnut shrimp with great interest before picking it up with its teeth and eating it, right out of Matthew's plate. Hopefully no one around us is watching and accidentally sees a piece of shrimp disappear into thin air, and just in case, I look around, but we're sitting in the far corner, near the restrooms, so it's very unlikely that anyone's going to be watching us.

Besides, even if they do, I'd know.

"I-I'm sorry..." Matthew apologizes when I sit down - more like sit _up,_ given how tall these high chairs are. "I was just so hungry..."

"No worries, help yourself," I smile back. "I haven't had lunch yet too, and all things considered, this is kind of a late lunch, so..."

We spend the next ten or so minutes doing nothing but eating. Fou walks over daintily on the table, as the table isn't very big at all, making sure not to accidentally tip either of our drinks over as she swipes a piece of teriyaki chicken from me, not that I mind. Fou must be as hungry as Matthew is. I watch Fou chew on her piece of chicken, and I can't help but wonder - if Fou can eat honey walnut shrimp, and then teriyaki chicken, and then now a mouthful of mushrooms from Matthew's plate, would she be able to eat literally anything? An image of a goat pops into my mind as I think this. I'm not exactly sure what Fou would think if it knew that I was likening her to a _goat_.

Though, Fou does come over and tap my arm with its paw, and she gives me another one of her "Fou!" calls, and this time she sounds more insistent. "Fou, fou!" it says.

"She's asking if she can get some water," Matthew translates for her.

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'll get some."

Hoping that this isn't some elaborate plan to get me off my food so that she can bury her face in it, I leave and ask the cashier for a water cup, which he gives to me, and I return with a plastic cup of water. I do catch Fou nabbing a piece of walnut from my honey walnut shrimp, but it seems like she's spared my plate. Matthew gestures for me to hand her the cup, unable to speak because she's got a mouthful of orange chicken and fried rice, and I hand it carefully to her so that she can help Fou drink.

"Thank you for the food," Matthew says finally, after finishing. I glance over - she's completely demolished her plate, as there is absolutely nothing left, save for a few grains of cold fried rice that Fou is busy lapping up to _completely_ clean the plate out. I nod back, having long since finished mine too, as I'm a very fast eater.

"Hope you liked it," I nod back. "American food is...pretty heavy, so...I know I should've warned you _before_ we started eating, but I guess it's a little late for warnings now..."

Matthew shakes her head. "It's fine, Senpai. The food was delicious, and that by itself is much more than I could've asked for."

Such humbleness, much wow.

I close the lid on my plate and take sip from my fountain drink.

"The letter I received from Olga told me that you would provide the details for this assignment," I begin, bringing our topic of conversation back to the task at hand. "As expected, the letter itself didn't contain much substance, so it seems like I'll be relying on you for the majority of the information I'll need to handle this job."

"Ah, yes, of course," Matthew says quickly, straightening her back and sitting up at attention in her chair as Fou makes itself comfortable on the table, lying down in between the two plates. "Did you bring that letter with you?"

"Uh, no, but I remember everything that it said."

"Okay. Um...I guess, for starters, what do you know about the singularity so far?"

"Only that it's S-Class, and that it'll cover my town and the towns around here, including this one. And half of the major city up north. Other than that, it seems like this'll be a big deal."

"That's correct, this will be the biggest singularity ever since last year's Grand Order incident," Matthew nods in agreement. "It is very fortunate that it's predicted to spawn in your territory, Senpai."

I take another sip from my drink. "How long do you think this'll last?" I wonder aloud.

"We don't know. S-Class singularities typically average in duration anywhere from three months to five _years_ ," Matthew shakes her head.

"Shit."

"I'm sorry, Senpai."

"Someone's gotta be, but I can assure you right now that it's not you."

Matthew just awkwardly smiles, unsure of how to reply to my words. I know what she's thinking - she doesn't know whether or not she should thank me for that.

"Y-You don't mean Miss Olga, do you...?" she asks timidly.

"I'm tempted, but for now, no."

"I-I'm sure Miss Olga would appreciate that."

"I don't think she gives a damn."

I set down my drink.

"As for the whole Master initiation, we can do that when we return. For now, I'd rather get the rest of the finer details straight first."

"Okay. Is there anything you want to ask about?"

"The Summoning system. I've heard of it, but since I've personally never used it before, I don't know the ins and outs of it. How does it all work? And how does it work in the context of our assignment?"

Matthew clears her throat to speak extensively. "First, you would need to convert your position to that of a Master, because in order for me to activate FATE, it requires a confirmed Master to which it will summon Heroic Spirits as Servants. FATE uses a special magic resource called 'Saint Quartz', which are gem-like magical entities that possess a strong magical signature that can be used by FATE to call upon the wills of Heroic Spirits. This is what they look like."

Fishing through her pockets, Matthew produces a small tin that's about the size of a small wallet, opening it up to show me its contents. Inside sit, neatly placed in their own individual little spots, a set of thirty rainbow-colored spiky gems that could easily be mistaken for candy.

"Chaldea has provided us with an initial set of thirty Saint Quartz," she explains, closing the lid once I've seen it. "They intend for us to use it as Summoning material so that we can get started on building a party with which to handle our first set of objectives during the first stage of this singularity."

I narrow my eyes a little. "Implying that these Saint Quartz things have uses other than Summoning," I observe aloud.

"Yes, but only one other use. And that is to be able to fully revive a team of Servants in a defined area if they are defeated."

"Wow, sounds pretty strong."

"It is. Combined with the fact that Saint Quartz is a resource that cannot be easily replenished due to its magical nature, Saint Quartz are very valuable and cannot be squandered, so while you, as a Master, will have full control over how you wish to spend your Quartz, I advise that you use them very wisely."

"Got it."

"Of course, you can always contact Miss Olga, and for a...small...fee, she will be more than happy to supply you with more."

"...why did you say the word 'small' really softly?"

Matthew looks away, making sure not to make eye contact with me.

"How much is it for Quartz?" I ask, figuring that this information could be useful later on, depending on what our circumstances begin to look like. "Is it for a small loan of a million dollars?"

"...i-if...if my knowledge of current monetary exchange rates is still accurate, then...I believe...it would be...eighty dollars for, um...a hundred and forty Quartz..."

I facepalm.

"So much for Quartz being a valuable resource," I roll my eyes.

"B-But you still must not use them unwisely!" she insists.

"Yeah, I understand that. You just made it sound like if I spent all of them, it'd be the end of the world."

"But...that wasn't my intention..."

I wave my hand to brush that topic of Quartz away. "What else do I need to know besides the Quartz?"

"Ah, yes, um...when we begin the Summoning process, FATE will process the Quartz into one of two results: the first are what are known as Craft Essences, sources of magic power that, while they may fail to call upon Servants, can be equipped to other Servants so that they may utilize the power that is vested in them. They will take the form of cards, for convenience's sake."

Frowning heavily, I gaze straight into Matthew's purple eyes. This sounds a lot like a lottery.

"This is a goddamn lottery, by the sounds of it," I observe aloud again.

"W-Well...it...it isn't...supposed to be treated like one..." Matthew murmurs shyly.

"Then I'm assuming the other result is Servants?"

"Yes, if not a Craft Essence, then it will summon a Servant."

"And let me guess, the Servant we summon is gonna be completely random, too."

"Y-Yes..."

"So it _is_ a goddamn lottery."

Matthew averts her gaze. As irritated as I'm starting to feel, I decide not to push the issue, since it's not like Matthew here's the reason why this system is the way it is. At least, not that I'm aware of.

"Then the important thing to ask here is how bad the ratio of Craft Essences to Servants is," I ask instead. "So in other words, let's say if I were to do the summoning thing a hundred times. Out of a hundred, uh, let's just call them 'rolls' for now, how many servants can I expect to summon?"

Matthew fidgets uncomfortably in her seat. Oh boy...

"...we...we don't know," Matthew mumbles. "It's completely random. We...have no control over what FATE decides to summon."

"Whoever worked on Quality Control for FATE should get fucking fired."

"Um...if I recall correctly, Dr. Archaman was the one who developed FATE..."

"Shit, can't fire him, can we."

"No, that'd...that'd be a bad idea..."

"Fine. But I'm getting the sense that summoning actual Servants is gonna be real tough."

"Historically, FATE has always been...stringent on bestowing Servants."

"Then I guess I'll end up with a whole fucking pile of Craft Essences with no idea who to give it to, huh."

"Well, there are times when FATE fails to summon anything at all."

Great, this really is the California lottery.

"So they expect us to use an unreliable system through which to obtain Servants, in dealing with an S-Class singularity that's about to go down God knows how soon," I mull irritably, chomping on the top of my straw as I sip up some more Brisk. "I think they might be overestimating me as a mage."

"But you are a...a very powerful mage, according to Miss Olga."

"How would she know, she's never seen me fight."

"But the reports from the singularities that you handled in the past..."

I conveniently ignore this and talk straight over her.

"Then how many summons will thirty quartz be enough for?" I ask, quickly changing the topic.

"Exactly ten summons. Normally, the conversion rate is three quartz for a single summon, but the recommended method is to gather up thirty quartz and use them all at once to summon, because it appears that FATE can process the magical energy provided by thirty quartz more effectively, and thus FATE can guarantee at least one four-star Craft Essence."

"Four-star? Those things have ranks?"

"Er, yes. Both craft essences and Heroic Spirits have rankings that go from one to five stars."

"So I'm assuming that these thirty-rolls, as I'm probably gonna start callin' 'em, is the way to go."

"Yes, Chaldea has recommended this method for its own Masters under its employment."

I ponder this. Knowing this, it sounds like there's pretty much no point to rolling with only three quartz at a time if I can guarantee that I can get at least _something_ out of a thirty-roll. But depending on how difficult it is to acquire quartz without having to pay Chaldea for more supplies, the question then becomes how easily I can accrue more on my own to be able to continue the summons without having to go the pay-to-win route. Because if it's very difficult to obtain quartz, like I said, there might be _some_ merit to yolo'ing the individual rolls on their own, if I'm impatient enough. But I'll reserve judgment until I know more about this system that sounds more and more and more absurd the more I think about it.

Which brings me to my next inquiry.

"So we know that if we run out of quartz, we can always have Chaldea to ship us some more, provided that we pay for them," I reiterate. "But I assume that there're also other ways to acquire quartz?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Matthew seems to beam a little now. "Once our contract is set and our commitment to this singularity is established, every week, Chaldea will send us three free quartz, one on the third day, and two on the seventh day. Certain mission objectives that Chaldea assigns us once they have more information about the singularity that we will be handling will yield quartz or Saint Quartz fragments, pieces that make up a quartz, as mission rewards, also sent by Chaldea, and you can put seven of the fragments together to make one quartz, and I believe the mission objectives that reward quartz fragments are also on a weekly rotation basis. And lastly, Servants whom you summon will have what is known as Bond Point Ratings, or simply Bond Levels for short. By increasing their Bond Levels to certain thresholds, they will automatically yield quartz with the magic energy that they exude upon reaching those thresholds."

I've already commented enough on the absurdity of Matthew's "official" name of Mash, so I think I won't waste her time with complaining about how the name "Bond Level" just sounds so goddamn terrible.

"There are also times when Chaldea will send over free Quartz as reinforcement supplies or in case of special events and occasions, so it is not as if they expect you to pay for any quartz. The FATE system is designed not to place any financial burdens on the mages contracted to serve as Masters."

"Why do I feel like that's an absolute lie."

"I-It isn't, though..."

I still don't look convinced just because a cute girl with glasses is telling me so. "I'll see for myself about that," I conclude with a bit of a sigh. "On a side note, I've been thinking, because it's clear that you haven't brought any luggage with you along, I'm guessing you'll need to buy stuff for your stay with me?"

"Stuff? Um...such as...?" Matthew looks a little confused.

"Clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner..." I list off some toiletries and other basic items that every household ought to have.

"Um...well...I...I don't... _need_ those things..." Matthew explains shyly. "You have heard about me, right, Senpai? That I'm a Demi-Servant."

"I've heard. But right now, you're in your human form...mostly. And in your human form, you don't have the traits of a Servant, meaning that you can't rely on magical energy to cleanse your body or do any other kind of physical bodily maintenance. Unless you plan on switching on and off every night to handle that."

"...that's...precisely what I _have_ been doing, though..."

I shrug. "A'ight, I was just making sure. Some girls really insist on doing stuff their way, so I felt the need to ask first."

"No, I-I understand. You're just trying your best to accommodate me. I appreciate it, I really do."

Normally whenever I hear someone saying these words, it's usually spoken in a sarcastic, passive-aggressive manner. It's actually quite refreshing to hear these words spoken with complete honesty.

"Then I guess we'll head back," I nod, sliding off my chair and picking up both my plate and Matthew's and heading out, tossing our trash away on the way. "Um, one more thing I _do_ wanna say, though."

"Yes?" Matthew replies, attentive as ever as we head back to my car and climb inside. Fou hops into the shotgun seat first and stands on the middle divider to let Matthew in after it.

"My place is a townhouse unit, and it's really only meant for a family of two to four," I say as I rev the engine. "So...if on the off-chance that we end up with a team of more than, say, two or three Servants, it's gonna get a little crowded."

"Ah. Well, I suggest that you look into other living quarters when the time comes for us to expand," Matthew advises.

"That makes it sound like we're gonna be stuck with a small party for a while."

"Well...that's...usually how it is, for the first couple of months."

"That so." Before I pull the car out of our space in the parking lot, I raise my hand over to Matthew. "Then under the assumption that we'll be stuck together for a long while, I look forward to workin' with you, Miss Kyrielight."

Matthew smiles and returns my handshake.

"The same to you, Senpai," she declares cheerily.


	3. Saber Lily

After an afternoon of grocery shopping and other small errand-running tasks like going to the post office to drop off some priority mail envelopes, we finally return home, and I pull into the driveway of the electronic gate of my townhouse community, reaching down into my ashtray to press the button on my remote gate opener to let us in. It's about five or so in the evening.

"So I heard from Olga that this should be your first time in the West Coast?" I ask Matthew, for the sake of conversation as I casually steer through the peaceful, empty road of our townhouse complex to get to my house.

"Ah, yes. I've never been to California, and I've, um, heard lots of good things about it," Matthew replies pleasantly. "So yeah...I was pretty excited to come. And I'm glad I've come, both Nelson and Tierra Del Llamas seem like very nice places to live."

"Well..." I hesitate, wondering if it's appropriate for me to bring up what she's been through, since I've heard enough about her previous work to have an idea. "...I think that, some of the more ghetto cities and towns aside, any town's a great place to live, compared to some of the ones you've been to."

Matthew just awkwardly chuckles. Meaning that I probably shouldn't have brought that up.

"But yeah, it's...this city's one of the nicest places in the state, to be perfectly honest," I say quickly. "It's expensive, but you pay for the quality of living here. Besides, if you're gonna live in a state like California, you just have to expect to pay more..."

"Is it cheaper to live in other states here in America?"

"Yeah, definitely. California's a high-population state, and while I'm not intimately familiar with the details of exactly why Cali's more expensive, it's pretty much common knowledge that it is. Other states that don't have as big of populations are typically cheaper in terms of overall living costs - like Colorado, for instance. But every state has its pros and cons - lots of people live in Texas, for example, where there's no state income tax, so that's appealing to a lot of people who're involved in business, for example."

"Oh, I see."

"Have you been to any other part of the United States? East Coast, maybe?"

"Yes, I have. I visited Boston once as the Head Representative of Chaldea for a minor mage's association meeting there, and Miss Olga tasked me to go to represent her."

"That sounds like she made you go because she didn't feel like it wasn't worth her time to go."

Again, another one of Matthew's I-can't-say-anything awkward chuckles.

"So how long were you there? Not long, right? Since it was only a mage's association meeting."

"I was actually there for a whole weekend."

"Oh, really? How was it?"

"It was really fun! We met inside this big convention center in Boston, and a lot of people were there too," Matthew recounts pretty excitedly. "A lot of those people were dressed up in all sorts of interesting clothes, there were a lot of booths selling merchandise and paraphernalia, and there were a lot of panels that were being hosted that talked about all kinds of interesting things."

My eyes get narrower and narrower the more and more she describes this meeting of a mages' association. Isn't that just an anime convention?"

"Matthew, just curious, but...what was the name of that mages' association meeting or whatever it was?" I ask slowly.

"Um...I believe it was called 'Anime Boston' or something like that, if I'm not mistaken..."

Bingo.

I hit my garage opener device as I take a right turn to pull into the smaller road that leads into my own small driveway. My elderly neighbor has since retired back into his home, though the window into their kitchen is open and I can hear his wife hollering about something - I think she's talking about cabbages, probably something related to dinner. I pull my Mercedes into the left, next to my other car, an old red Ford Expedition that I got at an excellent price off one of my business associates who was looking to replace it and figured that he might as well hand it off to me, the two of us being business partners for quite a while now.

"Oh, wow, you have two cars...?" Matthew remarks in wonder the moment the garage door opens to reveal the Ford.

"Yeah. This one I use just for errands and going around and maybe long-distance travel if I feel like driving, and that other one I use for business-related stuff, if I need to help my business partners and associates with loading some extra cargo they don't have space for."

"I see...um, will both of them fit...?"

"Yep."

I steer the Mercedes carefully up next to the Ford, making sure that there's enough space on Matthew's side so that she can get out. I do have to pull the car up practically right next to the end, the license plate almost grazing the wall, because there's this support beam on my left that blocks my door if I don't pull up all the way, and after I shut off the engine, we all get out and close the doors behind us.

"Um, if you need help with the groceries..." Matthew volunteers, approaching me as we both converge on the Mercedes' trunk.

"Sure, let's have you take...these bags..."

After opening up the trunk, I hand her some bags, which she carries with ease, since she's a Demi-Servant and all that, and since we can carry all the bags just between the two of us, I head in first to open the door and close the garage door behind me. I turn around to tell Matthew to take off her shoes, but she's already doing it without me telling her. I guess she's learned that somewhere else.

We climb upstairs and drop off our loads in the kitchen, where I immediately begin sorting the groceries and start putting them into the refrigerator while Matthew strays from the kitchen a little with Fou, looking around and taking in the atmosphere of my house.

"Matthew," I call from the kitchen. "I hope you're okay with ribs with rice and mushrooms for dinner tonight, that fine with you?"

"Yes!" I hear Matthew's footsteps hurry back to the kitchen upon my calling her, and sure enough, she pops her head around the doorframe first before entering. "Um...will you be cooking tonight?"

"What, can you cook too?" I ask while in the middle of placing the packet of mushrooms inside the veggies drawer in the fridge.

"Yes. I have confidence in cooking rice, miso soup, eggs...anything that is considered staple Japanese foods."

"You have a lot of experience with cooking Japanese food?"

"Yes. My previous master taught me."

"Cool. But don't worry, I'm already prepared to have to cook for you for the whole time you're here, so you don't have to if you don't want to - "

"Ahh - I, I can't have you cook for me _all_ the time!" Matthew frets in embarrassment, hurrying towards me next to the fridge. "I'd like to, um, cook for you too. Maybe it doesn't bother me as much now, but once we establish our contract and I officially become your Servant, it would be really disgraceful of me to not at least cook for you. It'd be absurd for a Master to cook for a Servant."

I shrug. "Suit yourself. If it's better with you, we can take turns cooking."

"Um, I'd be alright with that too. Do you need any help?"

"Nah, I'm okay. You can go relax, you're probably pretty tired from all the traveling and such, right?"

But Matthew shakes her head. "I'm fine, Senpai. Traveling doesn't affect me because of my Demi-Servant status."

Chuckling, I close the fridge door and pick up the plastic bags off the floor to tie them up and keep inside a drawer that's full of plastic bags that I get from grocery shopping that I reuse as trash bags for my wastebaskets and trash cans around the house. "Must be nice. Even if I'm a mage, I still get affected by travel fatigue. Just not as much as normal humans, though, but still."

Matthew gives me another one of those awkward smiles, like she's trying to cover up an emotion or two of some kind. She's getting easier and easier to read - which is good, since it tells me everything that I _shouldn't_ bring up with her.

"Then since I'll be on cookin' duty for tonight, when do you wanna eat?" I ask her. "'Cause I'm fine with eating whenever. Preferably sometime before eleven, though."

"Er, yes, of course..." Matthew blinks in response, as if having a hard time imagining why anyone in their right mind would ever contemplate eating dinner at eleven in the evening. "Um...I think...seven o'clock would be a good time?"

"In an hour, huh. A'ight - then lemme show you to your room...unfortunately, since this whole thing was on such short notice, I haven't really been able to prepare the room at all for you..."

"Oh, it's fine, I can, um, clean up the room on my own, if in case it's messy..." Matthew calls after me as we head out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. I open the door to one of the guest rooms, and inside is a room that is not messy at all - only because it hasn't been used in, what, three years.

"Let's get this window open..." I mutter to myself, striding across the room and pulling the sliding window open and pulling up the blinds to get some air flow in, since there is a definite muster to the room that reeks slightly with the whole not-used-very-much room smell. Matthew teeters over to the window and peeks down through the insect netting panel, marveling at how high up off the road this room is, being up on the third floor and all that. "This room's all yours, you can decorate it or rearrange the furniture in here however you like, since it seems like you'll be staying here for a while for this singularity. If you want anything else to put in this room, just let me know, and so long as it doesn't bankrupt me, I'll do everything I can to accommodate you."

Matthew smiles, but this time it's one of great appreciation. "You really don't have to go this far just to accommodate me, Senpai," she says, and I think I can pick up a very faint tone of sadness behind her voice. "You've already treated me so well. You'd be spoiling me by this point."

"Well, I'm just letting you know that if there's anything you need, just come talk to me," I repeat again. "It's not to spoil you or anything, I just want to treat my guests right, regardless of who they are. I thought that was just common courtesy that's universal throughout all cultures."

"I-I'm - I don't doubt that, Senpai, but...I'm just..." Matthew sighs. "Um...forget what I was saying, I'm sorry. I will humbly accept your kind generosity."

I nod curtly to her and stoop down to pat Fou on the head before leaving her to have the room to herself. All of these cues...they painfully tell me that Matthew's got a lot of luggage with her - it's just not the kind that can be carried around with two hands.

* * *

I spend the next hour until dinner doing some work in my office as part of my evening routine. Thankfully it's not a lot of work - just some arrival notices that came in during the afternoon while I was out with Matthew and some invoices and entry summaries that I need to get logged and sent off to my business partners. I've got some Demon Hunter playing through the speakers - it's one of my favorite little joys about my life, being able to listen to music that I like while getting some work done. You wouldn't think that something so basic and simple such as listening to music while working would be much of a big deal because it's so ordinary, such a widely understood concept and behavioral quirk that applies to many different people in many different cultures. But I like to marvel in the ordinary things, the things that no one notices. Everyone marvels at new and interesting things, things that stand out, things that demand attention; that's very easy to do. But to notice the little things, the small details that go unnoticed, the ordinary, day-to-day procedures and behaviors that everyone does without a second thought...that's not so easy.

As I get up from my chair to put the invoice I've just printed out into the scanner of my all-in-one machine, I sense Matthew peeking into my room near the top of the stairs. Without turning around to look at her, I call out to her.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Ah, no, um...I was just...looking..."

Matthew comes inside, since my door was already open to begin with. I turn to glance at her and give her a brief smile of greeting before sliding back into my chair and attaching the scanned invoice onto an email that I'm about to send to one of my business partners. Matthew watches me work for a few minutes.

"...is this your work, Senpai?" she asks softly and slowly, afraid that if she talks, she might interrupt me. At least, that's the feeling I get when I hear that particular tone of voice.

"Yep."

"Um...is it alright if I ask what kind of work this is?"

"I'm a self-employed guy. I own my own business, and it's a freight-forwarding business," I explain, getting back up to retrieve that invoice and stick it inside its corresponding manila folder, scribbling with a red pen some marks indicating that I've emailed this invoice to where it needs to go. "You familiar with what a freight-forwarding business is?"

Matthew slowly shakes her head.

"So you know how this world runs on international commerce? Businesses of all nations around the world produce stuff and ship them to whoever's willing to buy them, and oftentimes they need to get from one country to another. A freight-forwarding business handles the logistics of sending those shipments - both domestic and international, doesn't have to be only international." Once I send the email, I place the manila folder back into its spot on the folder rack to my left and then turn around in my chair to face Matthew while talking, since that was my last folder to take care of for this evening. "We make sure that we get a shipment from point A to point B without any problems, and we handle that in place of the people sending and receiving the shipment so that they don't have to worry about it, as we're the experts in it, and they're not."

"I see," Matthew nods in understanding. "And...this is your main line of business?"

"Yep. This's how I earn my daily bread, so to speak," I gesture with two hands around my office, which really isn't an office, just two desks placed perpendicularly to one another to half-emulate an office cubicle, with a fax/scanner/printer machine standing on a drawer to my right. "Not much, really. It's a decent, steady living...enough to support a whole family, assuming I had one. But I can just use what I've saved up on whoever gets summoned for this singularity, I s'pose."

Matthew's expression grows sad, as I expected it to the moment I mentioned the fact that I had no family.

"...is it because...you live away from your family, or...?" she asks, and I know exactly why she's asking. I think.

"Nope, it's...because I lost my family a long time ago," I reply with a soft sigh. "My history's a little bit...shaky, I guess you could say. So now I live by myself, for the most part. I do have a few friends who live nearby, and they sometimes come over to crash for a night or two, but it's not all that often, I usually have this place all to myself."

"I...see. I'm...sorry to hear that, um, about your family."

"It's fine, that was a long time ago, so I've gotten over it."

I get up from my chair now.

"I know it's a little early, but wanna have dinner now?" I ask her. "That way, after we eat, I can finally get the Master conversion done and we can finally get the summoning over with."

Matthew nods. "If - if it's alright with you, I would like to explain some more details about the summoning first."

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"So...we _do_ need a large area of flat, open ground to perform the summoning, and somewhere...preferably isolated, so that we don't attract attention to ourselves. Unless you have the ability to conceal our presence, along with the entire summoning process, that is..."

"Yeah, I can do that, don't worry. As for flat, open ground, hmm..." I start pondering, but a suitable location immediately pops into my head. "There's this park nearby called Meridian Park, and it's got this big open grass field next to a baseball field that we can use. No one really goes there at night, so that should be a perfect place."

"Okay. And...if it is alright with you, once we have established our contract together, I would like to ask you to help me gauge your strength as a Master by performing a few basic attack spells on me before we initiate the summoning."

"Uhh..." I scratch my head a little. "Yeah, sure, I...guess."

"Please don't hold back. As a Demi-Servant, I am confident in my powers and ability," Matthew says, certainly exuding the confidence that matches her words.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

"And lastly..."

Matthew pulls out a card from her pocket of her jacket and shows it to me. On it is depicted an image of an extraordinarily beautiful young lady, looking no older than the ripe old age of eighteen. She has on a humble suit of silverish-white armor that only covers her chest and torso and her sides via armor flaps that part to her sides, along with elbow-length gauntlets, with a white dress underneath that and detached sleeves with her gauntlets that expose her armpits and shoulders. She also has unbelievably bright green eyes and mesmerizingly light-gold-blonde hair held up in a high ponytail by a black double-tie ribbon, prominent sidelocks, and a huge upwards-sticking lock of hair that the Japanese like to call an "ahoge". So beautiful this is girl that I almost fail to spot the sword that she's holding in her right hand, though due to the card layout, it's cut off at the side.

Along the bottom of the card, beneath the image, is written a name:

 **[SABER / ALTRIA PENDRAGON]**

And beneath the name is a sword icon.

"This is what is called a 'Summoning Ticket'," Matthew explains, noting my expression of piqued interest in this item that she's produced. "Normally, Summoning Tickets are the equivalent of three Saint Quartz in that they allow you to summon for a Servant through FATE exactly once, so these can be used in place of Quartz if they are available. But this particular Summoning Ticket is very unique in that this is a guaranteed summon; if used, this Servant will appear to serve you and assist us for this singularity. Chaldea has been generous enough to instruct me to give this to you...I think it is their way of apologizing for such a short notice of your role in this singularity."

I slowly take it from Matthew, continuing to gaze down at it. I'm not sure if it's because of the girl on the card's image that's making it look so damn fragile, but I feel like I'm going to make the card explode on its own if I even hold it too hard. I can tell that the magical construction of this card is immensely complicated, and the complexity of its magical integrity is what's making this card so weak and fragile to the touch.

"How is it possible for them to've made somethin' like this?" I ask curiously, raising the card up a little higher. "They basically summoned a Servant, and then turned her into a card or something? Or how did it work?"

"If I recall correctly, Dr. Archaman and Miss Olga were inspecting FATE as a side project whose objective was to somehow tune the summoning process so that it would yield a higher chance of successfully summoning Servants. Somewhere along the way, I believe they stumbled upon the magical signature of this particular Heroic Spirit and captured it, and they were able to extract it in its Heroic Spirit state, before the process that FATE uses to convert them into a physical Servant, and contained its essence in the form of this Summoning Ticket. I unfortunately am not privy to all of the details, so if you wish to inquire about that procedure further, I do suggest that you contact either of them for the full story."

"Hm, sure. So basically, this 'Altria Pendragon' is a guaranteed roll."

"Er, yes..."

"Cool. Then why not just summon her right away?"

"Um...because there is always the chance that you _could_ summon a more powerful Servant. If it that is the case, then you wouldn't necessarily _need_ this one, Miss Pendragon..." Matthew leans over to inspect the card. "You _were_ expressing some concerns that the party might grow too big for you to sustain with just this house alone..."

That's a good point, one that I myself had brought up just earlier, like Matthew said. If I _do_ happen to pull a very strong Servant right away, then there'd be no need for me to summon this Altria Pendragon Servant right away, at least not until I deem it necessary to summon her for more assistance with the singularity.

"Hm. So I guess save it for until after I've done the first roll?"

"Yes. Because in that case, even if you fail to summon a Servant with the Quartz I have brought with me, then you can simply use that Summoning Ticket and have that Servant to rely on until we can obtain more Saint Quartz to perform another Summoning."

I nod all the while that Matthew is talking.

"Cool. Anything else?"

"Erm...no, that would be all for now," Matthew smiles quickly back up at me. I guess I didn't realize this before, but I'm actually a lot taller than Matthew is - probably about a good three or four inches. This is what happens when you don't really hang out around other people very much - you forget your whole height perception and how tall you are compared to other people.

"Alright - let's make some dinner. Does Fou wanna eat, too?"

"Fou!" Fou cries, completely understanding the concept of food. Looks like communicating with Fou won't be that much of a problem, thankfully enough. As I reach down to pet it, I do wonder if it's alright for me to treat him just like any other ordinary house pet.

* * *

And five hours later, about half an hour before midnight, I find myself standing at the edge of the grassy field at Meridian Park. I've converted my magical status to that of a Master, and along with my contract with Matthew, now on the back of my right hand, underneath my black fingerless glove, are etched three red magic encryptions that are called Command Spells, the infamous spells that are not only the proof of my status as a Master but also act as orders of absolution to any Servant under my control.

But the Command Spells aren't what're on my mind right now. Just like how the day earlier today was a gorgeous sunny day with mostly clear skies and cheerful clouds, the night tonight, too, is nothing short of soothingly beautiful. The skies are just as clear as they were earlier today, and although the sky is only dotted with a handful of stars due to all the light pollution coming in from the big city of Los Angeles to the north, the moon is shining with all its might, hanging high up in the sky like the celestial jewel it is. It also helps that where I'm standing, the edge of the grass field dips down to a slope that allows me to see straight down the hill on which this park is located, where beneath are a few walking trails and even a sandy volleyball court, though there's no net to be seen on the posts. And beyond this and the houses that line the edges of the park further down, I have a direct view into the sea far off in the distance, and the moonlight is shining brightly down onto the stretch of black, causing the nighttime waters to sparkle and dance in eternal silence. This is a sight that I've seen many a time, a hidden jewel in its own right that I feel privileged to know of, and every time I see it, it's just as beautiful as the last time I saw it. I've almost fallen asleep here a few times, watching this celestial sight while sitting on one of the few benches built here just for people to be able to sit down and enjoy this stunning view, but that's a story for another time.

"The view here is...amazing, Senpai."

Matthew joins me at the edge of the field, in front of one of the benches. Fou is walking with her also looking up at the moon and the sparkling sea.

"Another reason why I like this town," I remark. "There're a few places around here that have spectacular views that you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. There's even a spot nearby where, on a clear day like today, if you were to stand in a specific area, you can see both the sea and the mountains in the exact same spot. It's the only place in the world where you can do that...have the sea on one side, the mountains on the other, both visible to the naked eye."

"Wow..." Matthew smiles again, soothingly like she usually seems to do. "This town really must mean a lot to you, Senpai."

I rub my chin a little in response. "Is it, now..." I murmur, unsure myself.

"Well, how else would know little things like that if you weren't?"

"Hm. I mean, they're just little tidbits of information that I've found through my own experiences...but I do think that having extensive knowledge about a particular place and being intimate with it aren't necessarily mutually inclusive."

Shrugging, I finally turn my back to the view and head over to the middle of the grass field. I've already set up a large presence-concealing spell and a warding spell so that people and other sentient entities will stay away from our area and not notice anything going on here, so all that's left to do now before the summoning itself is to have Matthew test my strength as a mage.

As I stop and am about to turn around to face Matthew, I hear a loud whooshing of wind kick up near Matthew's location, and turning around, I find the grass waving in all directions away from her, and a light mist - no, wait, those are _snowflakes -_ is falling all around Matthew, fluttering down like feathers onto the grass, where they evaporate immediately as soon as they touch the blades of grass. There Matthew stands, but she's no longer in her casual outfit, let's call it - rather, she's -

...what the fuck is she wearing?

She dons on a...some kind of metal corset that exposes the navel and barely goes past her pelvis. Her forearms and legs are clothed by black and purple elbowgloves and leggings, and the design of the armored corset and the color scheme combined do make for quite the costume, but I think I would appreciate it more if it didn't make Matthew look like she was going to flash someone just by turning around and putting her back to them. I was only planning on watching one beautiful moon tonight, thanks.

I do notice, other than the stripperific nature of her costume, that her glasses are nowhere to be seen, and much more apparent that her lack of glasses is her acquisition of a huge cross-shaped weapon of some kind that stands next to her, the bottom part of the cross wedged into the grass, probably due to its weight. The cross bears a circular shield where the cross intersects, and the center of the cross's intersection sports a gear-like symbol that's grayed out compared to the rest of the weapon's black coloring, with white inscriptions on the top and bottom.

Now that Matthew's donned her Demi-Servant status, I can now fully gauge her power as a magical entity, and damn, she's strong, I can tell right away. It's hard for me to tell if, when I met her for the first time earlier today at Nelson Park, whether she was holding back all this magical power on her own knowingly or not. I would venture to guess that it's just because of her dual-nature as both a human and Demi-Servant that masks the vast majority of her magical signature, but I could be wrong; because of the sheer concentration of Matthew's power, it could very well be that she was consciously controlling her magical energy output.

Brushing her very long bangs aside that fall back over her right eye anyway, Matthew looks up at me in my direction and smiles again, this time with the same confidence that she showed before, earlier this evening.

"Demi-Servant Mash - er, I mean, Matthew Kyrielight, Shielder-Class, now reporting for duty!" she calls over, grabbing the central handlebar of her cross-shield like a seasoned badass and ripping it right out of the grass in which it's stuck to wield it properly. "Senpai, your orders, please!"

"...but you already know them," I call over, tilting my head a little. I can see that Matthew immediately realizes her lapse, as she cringes a little, trying to hide the fact that she's blushing.

"I-I'm sorry! It's - it's just force of habit!" she hollers over.

"Right. You ready?"

Upon hearing this, Matthew immediately snaps out of her embarrassment to get to work, and she slams her cross-shield down in front of her.

"Anytime, Senpai!"

So I raise my right hand like a finger gun, pointing it downrange at Matthew. A _lot_ of the attacks and spells I have in my arsenal are gibbed from various shows and animes that I've watched over the years because I like them for how they look or because I got curious one day if there's any merit to recreating them myself and using them as effective and/or efficient methods of combat. This one's from the old anime Yu Yu Hakusho, specifically the protagonist's Reigun ability. I like it because it's a very simple magical attack concept - you channel energy into your hand and concentrate it through your finger, and it'll emerge as a projectile of magic, and it goes towards whatever you're pointing at. Not much mechanical skill involved either, since you're just pointing your finger at your target, essentially, and the attack itself is also flexible - you can fire off either a burst of energy, or release a constant stream of energy. And most convenient for me personally is the fact that I can use it without any sort of incantation; it's literally fire and forget, and I've gotten so good at using it that I can easily control how much power I put into a shot.

So I pop off a shot at Matthew. I don't pack a lot of power into it, there's no point in trying too hard about this, as this is just for the sake of Matthew trying to figure out how strong I am, apparently. My shot travels at a pretty steady speed, and I'm sure Matthew can easily see it coming and brace for it, so I watch as Matthew tightens her grip on her shield and lets it take the attack head-on, the energy of the Reigun shot blasting away as soon as it comes into contact with the shield in all opposite directions, dispersing almost instantly. That cross-shield is certainly something.

Matthew peeks out from her shield.

"That was a great spell, Senpai!" she calls over. "I could tell right away. You're going to be a really strong Master!"

"Thanks, I guess. Is that all you need, or, uh, do you need more of these test runs?" I call back over.

"That's all I needed. I asked for a several just in case you needed some warmups, but it's clear that you didn't need them," Matthew explains as she hurries over to me, carrying that huge cross-shield with the easiest of eases. Something about this sight of a girl like her carrying a shield that's not only at least twice as big as her but also probably weighs at least four times as she does...I don't know, it doesn't _bother_ me, per se, it's just weird to see. She meets up with me quickly, and now that she's back up close and personal, god _damn,_ she's fine as hell. I blame this stupid fucking costume, though. The only merit that I can see with it is that she can move freely without worrying about her clothes getting in the way, but for God's sake, whoever designed this thing, you couldn't have made some kind of effort to _not_ make her look like her corset's going to fall off on their own at any moment? I've seen enough anime as it is to last me that kind of fetish for three lifetimes...

But I keep all that to myself as I greet her again.

"So are we gonna do the summoning right here? This's a big open spot, right?" I ask, looking around.

"Yes, this place is perfect," Matthew nods as she sets down her cross-shield in between us on the grass.

"So...where's the FATE device thing?" I ask, watching her.

"It's this." Matthew gestures to her shield, and I stare.

"It's your _shield?"_

"Well, specifically, the inscriptions here," Matthew points at the white inscriptions on the top and bottom. "My shield is just a vessel for the summoning procedure."

"Then why the hell were they all calling it a 'device'?"

"I think for security reasons - they want to keep the identity of the device as much of a secret as possible. For good reason, might I add."

"Hm, guess so." I don't really sound all that convinced, though.

As Matthew gets up from her shield, the shield's circular center starts to emit a bright blue rune that expands until it's the size of a large circular podium, and around us warp into view these magical leylines and grid-like rings that surround us lightly, like the rings of Saturn or something. As I enjoy this mysteriously enigmatic but also mystical sight, Matthew hands me the little tin full of Saint Quartz.

"Hold out your hands, Senpai," she instructs, and so I do, and she literally pours the Quartz right into my cupped hands. "Now place them on top of the rune before us, and FATE will do the rest."

So I do just that. I place the pile of thirty Quartz on top of the cross-shield's active rune, and as soon as I pull my hands away, the rune glows brighter, and the Quartz all disperse into vapors of magical energy that quickly evaporate, presumably absorbed by the FATE device or rune or whatever the hell it is exactly.

Promptly, the rune's leylines around us also glow brighter along with the central rune, and a single ring of bright blue energy blasts out from the center of the rune, passing through us briefly before snapping itself back into the center.

* * *

One minute and ten rings of glowing magical energy later, I stand with a stack of five Craft Essences in my hand, holding them like a hand of playing cards. From left to right, it appears I've gotten what are called the Azoth Blade, the Crimson Black Keys, the Dragon's Meridian, the Iron-Willed Training, and Kaleidoscope Craft Essences.

And no Servants.

The other five were busts - didn't get anything.

"Well, that was fun," I murmur dryly, lowering my hand. "Just like playin' the lottery, huh..."

"I-I can assure you that it's supposed to have gone better than that," Matthew shyly mumbles, not knowing what to say. "Usually, um...usually you can expect to get at least one Servant from the first Summoning...I don't really understand why it didn't give you any this time..."

"My question is, and always will be, why the _fuck_ this shit had to be not only _randomized_ , but also _based on chance."_ I scratch my head, already kind of annoyed at the fact that a system like this exists, and that this is considered to be the best way to deal with an S-Class singularity - by basically gambling. "Well, whatever. I guess it's just between the two of us, then, to handle this one..."

"Wait, Senpai, remember? You have that guaranteed Summoning Ticket!"

I again laugh rather dryly. "But you said I wouldn't need it."

"I didn't expect for something like _this_ to happen, where you wouldn't get _anyone!"_ Matthew bows her head. "I'm really sorry about this...this is just...just terrible luck, there's no other way to put it. I'll contact Chaldea when we get back home and tell them of your situation, and I'm sure that they'll send us another batch of Quartz again."

"Nah, don't bother. Not like they're gonna listen to that kind of a request anyway, depending on how valuable Saint Quartz are to them."

"But they will! I promise, Senpai."

Still not _really_ listening to her, I just nonchalantly shrug as I pull out the Summoning Ticket from my pocket that Matthew gave me earlier.

"So just put this on the rune too, and she'll pop out, huh..." I murmur aloud.

"Um, yes. This will be guaranteed, so she will come no matter what."

"You didn't have to repeat that, I don't think."

I put Altria Pendragon's card on the rune, and sure enough, the rune glows again, but this time, three rings of blazing blue energy expand out and snap back in. As soon as they constrict back to the center, a tall pillar of bright blue magical energy towers into the air, quickly dispersing to reveal the same exact young lady clad in her insufficient armor and golden good looks. When the blue energy disperses completely, the girl, apparently levitating off the rune a few inches, slowly lands back down against the rune, standing on it briefly as she opens her eyes and smiles down at both me and Matthew, clutching her sword in her hand while small golden sparkles float about her, almost like an aftereffect of the summoning. In a bright, youthfully young and most certainly perfect British accent, she declares,

"It is nice to meet you, Master. Since I am still in training, please call me Saber Lily. Please take care of me, and again, it is both a pleasure and an honor to serve you!"


	4. Rock, Paper, Scissors

**A/N:**

 **Axormin: To tell you that would be spoilers. As much as anyone cares about spoilers about a work of fanfiction.**

 **AK-103: never be afraid to act on a concept that you have that you want to expand on by writing, even if you feel like you won't finish it. Just getting started is key.**

 **Just Some Dude: in this fic, her name will be Matthew. Partly because I think the name "Mash" is dumb as hell and not a name I can take seriously. I don't know, something about that name triggers something in me, and normally I don't really care for names, it just so happens that this particular one does. But just my opinion.**

 **GreyMan19: If you take the time to reread the Author's Note on the first chapter, you'll see that the first paragraph highly implies that I do indeed play FGO. That same Author's note also mentions that this story will be based on my "personal adventures" with the game, and I quote, "and [with] the servants I happened to roll". So I think I answered your question even before you asked it.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Saber Lily daintily steps from from the hologram platform that serves as FATE's summoning circle. The holy, soft shroud of golden light still lingers exquisitely, hugging Saber Lily's body and chest armor even when she steps off onto the ground, and when she sets her metal boots on the ground, it's almost as if the light radiates off her and bleeds into the grass on which she steps.

I would mention the part where she also happens to be the single most beautiful young lady I've ever had the pleasure of setting my eyes on, but I think that just goes without saying. Sorry, Matthew.

Stopping in front of me and looking up at me, since I am well taller than her, she clasps her huge sword - or is it a claymore? No, it's probably somewhat smaller than a claymore - with both hands, the blade pointing straight down at the ground at her feet, and smiles radiantly, just as bright as the morning sun. She's quite easy on the eyes...therapeutic, even; I like her already.

"Good evening," I greet her back, raising my hand up to my cap and tipping the visor at her. Since I'm not wearing a fedora at the moment, the cap will do. "I'll be your Master for duration of this singularity. I'm Augustus Il, but you can just call me August." I extend a hand to her, half wondering if she, being a Heroic Spirit from another era in the distant past, would recognize what a handshake is and would mean in the present day, but to my small surprise, Saber Lily smiles and graciously cradles her sword underneath her left arm as she pleasantly returns the handshake...with _both_ hands, even. How sweet of her.

"It's my dearest pleasure to serve you, Master Il," Saber Lily says, but her smile fades a little as her facial expression grows a little more concerned. "But...Master, I do beg your pardon for my asking, but...your surname...it has nothing to do with your physical condition, does it?"

Somewhat distracted by Saber Lily's adorably beautiful British accent, which is the most royal kind of British accent I've ever had the pleasure of hearing, I shake my head.

"No, it's, uh, it's an Asian family name," I explain briefly. "I'm Korean by blood."

"Kor...ean...?" Saber Lily tilts her head a little, tilting her head a little in wonder. "I _do_ think that...that I have heard of it...but...I cannot remember...exactly..."

"Uh, for now, just know that I'm of Oriental descent," I summarize quickly, since it seems like Saber Lily isn't too familiar with Asian countries. "And don't worry, whenever I meet with people who aren't too familiar with last names like mine, they ask me the same thing, too, so don't feel bad."

"Oh, I see," Saber Lily smiles a little bit awkwardly. "Th-Thank you kindly for your, um, your consideration. I-I'm - I am still an apprentice knight, you see, and I pray that this singularity to which I have been summoned to fight will provide me the perfect opportunity that I may use to train and grow into a strong knight and, eventually, a strong King of Britain."

King of Britain...the name on the bottom of Saber Lily's summoning ticket or card or whatever it was did say the name "Altria Pendragon", if I recall correctly. From what little I know of FATE, the Heroic Spirits that it summons as Servants are indeed taken from famous figures in history - it can even materialize famous legends or people who may or may not have actually existed. And case in point, I'd had a sneaking suspicion that maybe it could be King Arthur, but...if so, why is King Arthur a hot chick, and why the fuck is her name "Altria"? I guess this FATE thing is just like those weird people who love gender-swapping famous people from history for not much more reason than to give themselves more wank material. But I guess this is a little bit different...not that there's a point to complaining about genderswapped Kings of Britain to begin with, especially not with one standing right in front of me. And I _did_ say she's pretty damn cute...

"So you're...King Arthur," I ask Saber Lily slowly, crossing my arms slowly too. "Or, rather, more specifically, you're _going_ to be King Arthur."

"Ah..." Saber Lily grasps the handle of her big sword a little bit more tightly, "...it's, um...it's actually King _Artoria_."

It takes a lot out of me not to roll my eyes. The genderswapping is too real.

"Okay, King Artoria, then," I correct myself as per Saber Lily's insistence. "Then might I ask if you're the actual King Artoria? Do you have the memories of your, I guess it would be yourself from back in your day?"

"That's right," Saber Lily nods strongly. "Although...I suppose it would be more accurate to call this manifestation of myself a preserved copy of what I was like at this point in my life during the time that I lived."

"Hm..." I tap my fingers thoughtfully against my folded arms.

"Is there something on your mind, Senpai?" Matthew asks me, noting my contemplative expression.

"Yeah, one big thing, actually," I nod. "Actually, before I talk about it, this is Matthew Kyrielight - she's the one who's set up this summoning system that we've managed to summon you through, and she'll be helping us handle this upcoming singularity," I introduce Saber Lily to Matthew quickly, and Saber Lily treats Matthew the same way that she treated me - a big, sunny smile and a two-handed handshake.

The moment she takes Matthew's hand for the handshake, I notice that Saber Lily starts blinking, as if in surprise, but she holds it in. I can tell that she really wants to ask Matthew something, but she isn't for some reason. I'm guessing it's because she doesn't want to get in the way of our conversation that we were about to have just now before the introduction.

I make a mental note to bring this up to her when we're alone...at some point.

"So there is one big thing that I wanna ask the two of you," I point at both the girls after they're done with their handshake. "When Servants get summoned into this world, how much do they know about it? Is it to the point where I've gotta teach 'em about how the world works nowadays, in this present day, or do they already kind of know? Or is it somewhere in between?"

"It's generally in between, but all Servants are summoned into whatever era into which they have been called to serve with a general understanding of the current times," Matthew declares. "For example, Miss Lily, you are familiar with modern-day electronic devices and automobiles, yes?"

"Ah...y-yes, I-I do know what they are," Saber Lily nods hastily, hugging her big sword against the side of her chestplate rather cutely, in a way that makes people weak to cute stuff go _squee!_ "And it is as Lady Kyrielight says, Master. We Servants are a basic understanding of the world into which we have been summoned. Of course, there, uh, there may be some nuances that we are not familiar with, so...so for those, when they come up, I may require some explanation about them..."

"Okay. 'Cause I was just making sure, I wanted to know if I needed to spend like a day or two getting you acclimated to how life it nowadays...guess I don't have to worry too much."

Saber Lily nods heartily. "In my life, I loved to travel and learn the ways of my people in Britain. I wish to do the same in this life as well, in this world and land where things may be different from what I myself am used to. I consider it as part of my journey to become Ki - "

A definitely audible grumbling whines from a particular someone's stomach. It can't be either me or Matthew, since we just ate not more than an hour ago. So that only leaves...

"...I'm...terribly sorry, Master..." Saber Lily is cringing in front of me, looking crestfallen with sheer embarrassment while she clutches her stomach, not because she's hungry to the point where she could collapse, but because she wishes she could make her grumbling stomach disappear or something. At least, that's what it looks like she's doing to me.

"I guess Servants come summoned hungry, huh?" I crack a small joke, making Matthew smile a little bit as she pats Saber Lily reassuringly on her left shoulder. Saber Lily's face is lighting up like a light-up Christmas ornament, and I do feel for her, having an embarrassing moment like that happen in front of someone you're supposed to consider your Master and all that. "Well, I think we're just about done here. Once we pack up Matthew's shield and FATE thing, we can head back home, and I'll make you something to eat."

At the mention of food, I swear to God I see her prominent strand of idiot hair spike up in interest, like it's some sort of hair radar that's on the lookout for food.

"B-B-But I...I can't ask of my Master to serve _me_ food..." Saber Lily cries weakly, but I can just tell by the tone of her voice alone that the temptation of food is working wonders against her psyche. "...but...if...if you insist, Master..."

"Sure, it's no problem," I give Saber Lily a friendly grin. "You're going to be staying at my home, after all, for the duration of this singularity. I like to think that it's part of my job as a homeowner to take care of my guests, even if they're technically my Servants."

Saber Lily sighs with relief that her hunger will hopefully be satisfied, but then she fidgets uncomfortably, finding it very difficult to look back at me in the eye.

"...I humbly apologize for inconveniencing you like this, Master..." Saber Lily sniffles a little. "It really does hurt my pride as a future King to ask of you something like this...but...I can assure you that I will do all that I can to fulfill my purpose as your Servant!" Getting all motivated again, Saber Lily beams, starting to raise her big ol' sword, but then her stomach strongly disapproves of her knightly bravado and drags her back down into the sticky pit of embarrassment. Both Matthew and I share a brief chuckle at Saber Lily's stomach's impeccable timings while Saber Lily herself groans again and buries her face into her metal gloved hands.

* * *

"Alright, here you go. Sorry for the wait."

With a tall, cold glass of 2% fat milk that she's already drunk half of, Saber Lily's eyes and mouth get _huge_ when she sees me walk out of the kitchen with a big plate filled to the edges with purple rice cooked with mushrooms, grilled onions, Korean short ribs, big and thick slices of ham dressed very lightly with a gentle spread of barbecue sauce, microwavable corn, and bite-sized kimchi. If I look hard enough into Saber Lily's widened green eyes, I think I can start seeing sparkles fly out of them. And true to her name, there are lily flowers blooming all around her - on the walls, on the chair on which she sits, on the floor -

\- wait a minute, those aren't just shoujo anime special effects, goddamn it.

Saber Lily herself doesn't seem to take notice of the lilies that are sprouting all around her as I set her plate in front of her, with Matthew sitting next to her, also a little bit alarmed at the sight of lilies sprouting out of nowhere around them.

"Oh...oh my goodness...!" Saber Lily exclaims like a schoolgirl in a pet shop that's filled with all sorts of puppies. "Th-Thank you so much, Master! This is so much food, you're - you are far too kind...!"

"I figured, since you're a Servant, that you'd like a lot of food, so don't worry, help yourself," I nod with the same smile that I've been giving her before taking a seat across the table from her, not that the table itself is very big anyway.

Having magically taken off her armor and put away her sword, now in her clothes that she apparently wears underneath her armor, which look like perfectly normal maiden's clothing that she could easily wear out in public without drawing attention (her cute looks definitely will, though, which makes me a little more than somewhat worried), Saber Lily immediately digs in - completely ignoring the utensils that I've set out for her prior to bringing her her late dinner. Seizing the short ribs first, she gorges on the meats immediately, without hesitation, and Matthew smiles a little awkwardly again as she and I both watch the new arrival to our household feast on the little dinner I've made to satisfy her hunger for the time being.

Normally I'd be quick to judge a cute girl eating like an absolute savage, but now that I've actually been given a chance to sit in front of such a girl eating like this, I realize that it doesn't make Saber Lily look barbaric; rather, it honestly looks pretty cute. Maybe it's her perpetual expression of pure, unadulterated joy of being able to enjoy good food and drink - admittedly, I've never seen any other girl in my life eat with a look quite like that. The look of pure appreciation, the look of almost childish but shining delight - not a lot of people these days ever bother to sit down and appreciate anything; nowadays it's just nothing but complaining, taking things for granted, and bitching that I see from people.

But what more do you expect from people who've never faced a danger in their lives. Sheltered and unexposed to what the world is truly like, the ugly side of it. After all, if you've never seen the dark, eventually you'll start thinking that the light is what the dark looks like.

"I think I should'a asked this before we actually started the summoning, but can you tell me more about the Servants?" I ask Matthew, turning to her while we watch Saber Lily eat to her heart's content. I get the feeling that I'll be needing to make more food, at the rate at which the food on her plate is rapidly disappearing before my eyes.

"Of course. What would you like to ask about?" Matthew smiles back at me, giving me her attention at my request.

"Well, I know that there're multiple classes of Servants, right, but I don't know all of them - not too familiar with them. Saber Lily here is, well, a Saber. What are the other classes, and what are the advantages of each class?"

Matthew nods. "There are seven main classes of Servants that can be summoned through FATE, with two main groups of classes within those seven classes. The first group, called the Knights, are comprised of three classes: Sabers, Lancers, and Archers. The Saber-Class are a class of expert sword-wielders, as the name suggests, and they are very good close-quarters warriors who can fill any role you wish for them to have well; think of them as...what's the phrase, as 'jacks of all trades'."

"Then...masters of none?"

"Well, I will explain something else later, but for now, it depends on the Servant. Servants have access to skills that they can use while in battle to help them turn the tide in their favor, and they all possess a very powerful attack called a Noble Phantasm when they think that the situation is dire enough. So...not necessarily 'Masters of None', per se."

"So I'll just have to see with each Servant."

"That's correct." Matthew clears her throat a little. "Next, the Lancer-Class are a class of proficient spear-wielders and lance-wielders who specialize in hit-and-run tactics thanks to their high agilities and speed, and the Archer-Class are a class of powerful ranged Servants who are skilled in scouting and possess really strong Noble Phantasms."

I nod, listening along. "Makes sense so far."

"Mhm. Before I go on to the next group of Servants, there's another aspect to these classes that I need to tell you about, and that's their in-class proficiencies against one another. It is like a sort of rock-paper-scissors kind of system: Sabers are good against Lancers, Lancers are good against Archers, and Archers are good against Sabers."

I blink a little, digesting this.

"...wait, what's the reasoning behind that," I ask bluntly. "Sabers are good against Lancers?"

"Ah..." Matthew senses the incredulity in my voice when I ask this and starts to get a little flustered, trying to think of a response. "W-Well...Sabers are typically considered the masters of close-range combat, so - "

"So they _are_ a master in something."

"Y-Yes, I guess...but the thing is, Lancers are much better known for their speed. In terms of raw close-quarters combat ability, Sabers trump them because they are usually more versed in it, rather than the Lancers, who concentrate on their speed. So should a Saber and a Lancer be pitted against one another, usually a Saber would come out victorious because of their superior skill in close-ranged combat."

I slowly raise a hand to scratch the side of my face, knowing full well that the expression on my face at the moment is one of hesitant disbelief. I just can't imagine Lancers being outclassed by Sabers - logically speaking, someone with a longer bladed weapon against someone else with a shorter bladed weapon is usually going to win just because of the length of their weapon alone, so a spear user can just zone out a guy with a sword indefinitely, assuming both are of roughly equal skill. Not to mention the fact that it's much easier to get good with a spear, since a spear is just an easier weapon to use and get skilled with quickly compared to something like a sword. There's a reason why armies in history have been trained with spears rather than swords...

...but on the other hand, these Servants aren't just plebeians waving sticks with blades on the end around for fun. They're Heroic Spirits, with obviously superhuman talents and capabilities, so logic limited by standard human capacity and bounds need not apply, I suppose. And even off my own logic, because swords are harder to train with and get good with, I suppose way down the road of training, at a superhuman, a supernatural level of swordsmanship, that training weight, you could even say, of a sword being an inherently more difficult weapon to master goes a long way, so through this, I start seeing why Sabers can trump Lancers in this...system, I guess. My facial expression relaxes once I come to this conclusion, and I nod at Matthew so that she doesn't have to be so worried about any questions that I might have.

"Okay, I get it. And what about the others?" I ask, beckoning for her to continue.

"Right, the next group of Servants...they are known as the Horsemen. The Rider-Class are a class of skilled mount-riders who are unrivaled in their ability to tame and ride."

My eyes slide a little towards the left. Does that mean that in the present day, they'll be able to drive cars and ride motorcycles? That'd be pretty cool, actually.

"The Caster-Class are made up of Servants who are well-versed in magecraft and are considered the greatest magic-users of all Servants, and the Assassin-Class are Servants who are best used for covert activities, assassinations, and anything else you want to have done quietly and stealthily. And just like the affinity system for the Knights, Riders are effective against Casters, Casters are effective against Assassins, and Assassins are effective against Riders."

Matthew clears her throat a little again.

"But in regards to the affinity system, please keep in mind that while it does sometimes dictate the outcomes of certain battles, for the most part you do not really need to worry too hard about them; it all depends on the Servant's individual skill and the outlying circumstances as far as a victory is concerned. It's just something I felt you should keep in mind, just in case that it will actually make a difference."

I nod again. "So that's six classes...and you said there're seven main ones. What's the last one?"

"Ah, yes, the seventh class - they are known as Berserkers. They are a class of warriors who have traded their humanities for extreme power and strength. They are very effective against all of the other six classes of Servants, but they are generally considered glass cannons because they themselves can easily be defeated, because they fight with brute strength with little to no finesse."

"So the other classes can beat them just as easily by outplaying them, basically."

"Yes, that's exactly it."

"Cool." I glance at Matthew - and while we're on the subject of Servant classes, another question runs through my mind that I feel like I need to ask now, since we're on the topic. "And I don't think I've asked you this before, but class are you, Matthew?"

"Ah..." Matthew smiles with that shy expression of hers. "As for me...I am...in a bit of a unique situation due to my Demi-Servant status. I am known as a Shielder."

"Because of your shield?"

"I-I guess so. I also have skills that enable me to defend my allies, so I help protect them from our enemies while they can concentrate on attacking them."

"Makes sense. Is there anyone else in your class? Since you did say that you're in a unique position."

"Ah, no, I'm...I'm currently the only one of my class. I don't think there are any other Shielders..."

"That's cool, you get to be in a class all by yourself. Is it lonely there, at the top?"

Matthew gives me another one of her cringing smiles.

"...at times, I do...I do feel a little lonely..." she admits softly, fidgeting in her chair. "I am, after all, the only Demi-Servant. No other Servant is a fusion between a human and a Heroic Spirit, everyone else are pure Heroic Spirits who have myths, legends, or history written of them to legitimize their existences. But - but that's not to say that I feel lonely all the time. I have my friends and fellow Servants whom I can protect, and everyone appreciates my efforts in protecting them. Usually."

Fou jumps into my lap while Matthew is talking to occupy it, and I reach down and give it a good rub-down, running my fingers through Fou's luxurious mane. Its fur feels like water, silky smooth and huggably soft. And while Matthew is talking, I glance over at Saber Lily, who's just about done clearing her plate. Considering how much food I piled onto her plate, she sure eats fast.

"Thank you so much for the food, Master!" Saber Lily exclaims as she finishes her glass of milk too. Her hands and her face are somewhat of a mess - to be expected, since she's been eating with her fingers, mainly, so I pick up Fou and set it on the empty chair next to me while I reach over for a napkin from the stack that sits at the end of the table and walk around the table to help wipe Saber Lily's face down. "A-Ah - M-Master, I - "

"Hold still, m'kay? You can go wash your hands in the bathroom afterwards," I tell her as I busy myself, wiping the barbecue sauce and short rib grease off her lips. There isn't as much of it as I thought, and it only takes a few seconds, though Saber Lily doesn't look _too_ pleased.

"I could do that on my own, Master..." she murmurs with the tiniest of pouts. "A k-king needn't rely on someone else to wipe her mouth for her."

"My bad. You just seemed like a younger sister type while you were eating, so I couldn't resist my desire to take care of you like one."

Saber Lily frets some more, but she blushes along with it, so I don't think she took too badly to that, and she soon stands up to go to the bathroom to wash her hands, excusing herself while I take her plate and glass to go wash in the sink. Matthew tags along with me, as does Fou.

"So when will we know that the singularity's beginning?" I ask Matthew while washing the plate, since I hear her footsteps enter the kitchen and I know that Saber Lily's in the bathroom right now washing her hands.

"There should be an intense magical signature that we can sense very easily, since we are in the projected area of its appearance," Matthew answers. "Once it appears, we must travel to its location and investigate the nature of the singularity so that we can figure out how best to deal with it and ultimately shut it down."

"Is there anything that we know already, or that Chaldea knows already, that we can work off of or expect? Just so that we know what to prepare for?"

"Um...well, typically you can expect to run into enemies like armed undead skeletons and zombified humans. Oh, and there may be a chance that we will run into Servants who have been corrupted by the singularity, called 'Shadow Servants'."

"Well, shit. Guess we'll need to be careful about them, huh."

"Yes. While it is projected that they are not _as_ strong as their true Servant selves, they still possess the same skills and abilities, so they are by no means a small threat."

"Do you think that we can, uh, 'beat' this singularity, so to speak, just between the three of us?" I ask, scrubbing the plate now with dish soap. "Or do you think we'll need more Servants?"

"Honestly...we may need more," Matthew says, and I can hear a definite, unmistakable drop in her tone when she says this. "This is why, later tonight, I will contact Chaldea and request more Saint Quartz after explaining to them your situation."

I roll my eyes. Damn lottery system...there's a reason why I've always kept shy from gambling and other stuff like that, online micro-transactions and whatnot on the internet or on mobile...

...now that I think about it, Chaldea is starting to seem more and more like a mobile game company. Paying for Saint Quartz...that's what a mobile game company would do, I feel like. Then I guess this would mean that Matthew is my free Saint Quartz hack, though I think I'd prefer not to think of her that way.

"Will they actually send more? I still don't think that they're likely to do that," I repeat my question from before.

"They will. I know Miss Olga personally, and I can use my position in Chaldea to convince her," Matthew insists. "For you to be unable to summon a _single_ Servant from the initial batch...this cannot go unaddressed."

"Well, in case that they refuse in the end, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll manage somehow, just with the three of us."

"But this being an S-Class singularity, it's best if we try to assemble at least a party of six. And, um, you'll be fighting with us, right...?"

I snort a little.

"Of course. It's been a while, after all..."


	5. A Lazy Mage

"Hello? Um, yes, hello, I'm - my name is August Il, house freight forwarder for Lukenstor Electronics...yes, good morning, I'm fine, thank you. Um, I'm calling today to check if you have the arrival notice for this shipment prepared yet or not. If you don't have it, I'd like the ETA for it instead...yes, I've got your reference number right here..."

Another ordinary day at work for me. One of the shipments I'm working on hasn't gotten an arrival notice in it yet and it's scheduled to arrive here at LAX harbor in about two days, which is a little bit closer than I'd like so I can get all the customs paperwork done to clear the shipment in time for delivery, so I'm calling another freight forwarder who's in charge of shipping the container in question out of China, from whence it's been shipped, to see if they've prepared the arrival notice for me or not. If there's no arrival notice in my folders when it's starting to near their estimated dates of arrival, then it means that I either overlooked some emails or they haven't come in yet. And since I always make sure to leave no email unchecked, it's usually the latter.

It's about eleven o'clock in the morning now - April 20th. I'd do well to stay away from the Internet today.

As I speak with the master agent's call representative, I sense someone near my door and stay there, and since I know for a fact that my door is left open, that means, by logical conclusion, if someone's standing at my door, they're looking inside to see what I'm up to. There's no real reason for me to have my own door shut - as you can probably imagine before Matthew and Lily came along - I'm calling Saber Lily just 'Lily' from now on, by the way - how many hyphens am I gonna use here - since I'm the only one who lives in my own house the vast majority of the time, and I like having a breeze go through my house on the third floor. Heat usually rises up to the top of my house, that being the third floor (shout-outs to SCIENCE!), and my office also happens to be in my own bedroom, which is also on the third floor, and with all the office equipment in here, plus the fact that I have not one, but _two_ computers, one for work and one for gaming and chill, it can get pretty hot in here, so I usually like to keep the windows in my room and the room across the floor, which is now Matthew's room, open, and thus having my own door open just makes all the more sense to keep that natural ventilation going.

Unfortunately for my fondness for natural ventilation, Matthew now occupies the guest room that I like to have the windows open in. And since I didn't notify Matthew about this, now my natural ventilation's been cut off. First world problems, man...it's the _struggle_ out here.

"I see...so just to repeat, the new estimated arrival date is April 30th..." I repeat after the call rep on the other end, writing it down on the side of my manila folder that contains the initial paperwork for this particular container. "Okay, thank you very much. Oh, no, that'd be all for today. Thank you, uh-huh, buh-bye."

Setting down the receiver, I scribble down some notes with my left hand onto the side of the manila folder while also reaching over for my mouse and clicking on an Excel file that contains a detailed status list for all the shipments in my business inventory so that I can update the ETA on that too, since I've found out the hard way that I do occasionally forget to record small edits like these, and they sometimes come back to bite me in the ass. The small details are what are important, especially in this kind of a business - it's usually cookie-cutter all the way, but sometimes there might be those few shipments where the paperwork's a little funny to complete, or there're some weird circumstances that surround the shipment, or maybe the shipment itself is taking a different route than what I usually work on.

By this point, whoever was standing in front of my open door has now quietly tiptoed into my office, curious to watch me work. I ignore her, or whoever it is, for the time being, since I sense that whoever's behind me as no hostile intent to speak of and thus poses no threat to me, giving me the luxury of simply ignoring her for the sake of my work.

I tidy up this file save the small edit I've made to my Excel file in regards to this change in shipment ETA, put away the folder in the folder rack to my left, and then turn around in my swivel chair to face my guest. It's Matthew - holding Fou.

"Hey, what's up," I give her a quick grin, looking up at her from my seat. "Anything I can do for you?"

"H-Huh? Oh, oh, um, uh, no, I - " Matthew, as if not realizing what she herself has done by walking into my office, takes a nervous step back, squeezing Fou just a little bit harder. "I was just...I was just curious to watch you w-working...I thought it might look interesting..."

I give a bit of a chuckle. "Oh, no, this - this work wouldn't be interesting to you in the slightest. Not compared to what Chaldean employees usually have to deal with, anyway."

To my surprise, Matthew starts pouting, like she's offended by my assumption. "Th-That's not true, Senpai! I'm always fascinated with how normal people work every day. I used to be human too...so, maybe in a world where I didn't become the Demi-Servant that I am now, I would...I would be working a day job like this..."

"Fair point. Then if that's the case, you can hang out, I don't mind."

"R-Really? I won't...be distracting, or get in the way?"

"No, not really. I've gotten pretty good at working with distractions in the background..." I roll my eyes, thinking of the times when I've had to work in the middle of the evening with friends over trashing my place and drinking my liquor.

"...that just makes me feel even more like I shouldn't be here..."

"It's fine, do what'cha like."

"Um, then, how long will you be working for? Or, um, how long will it take to finish your work for this morning?"

"I'm actually almost done. Usually I'm done with my morning shift at around lunch." I pick up and hold up for her a few manila folders that I need to log in a data entry program that helps me record the invoices and bills for my shipments and prints out my own arrival notices and invoices for my customers. "I just need to handle these, which should only take a few minutes, maybe five or ten minutes at most, and I'll be off for the morning."

"O-Okay."

So Matthew helps herself to a seat at the foot of my bed, letting Fou down onto my bed, which I always make after waking up, even while living by myself, so Fou curls up on top of my spread blanket and rubs its cheek affectionately against the soft fabric. Matthew tries to get Fou to stop, perhaps out of fear that I might get angry that Fou is ruining my blankets, but I casually ignore them, since I really don't care if Fou does. It's not like it's dragging its ass across the _top_ of the sheets...

"S-Senpai?" Matthew asks hesitantly as I start typing away rapidly at my keyboard, the data entry boxes in my program rapidly filling with text and numbers as my fingers turn my keyboard into an audible machine gun that fires digital pixels that look like letters and numbers rather than bullets. "Is it alright if I...I ask you something?"

"Sure," I reply, a bit more loudly than my usual conversational voice because my keyboard, being a Blackwidow Ultimate that I got for fifty bucks on a Black Friday sale, is pretty loud with its factory default switches - I forget which ones they are. Usually the loud keys aren't a problem since I'm the only one around to have to put up with them, but now I think the loud keys will become a legitimate noise issue, since I'm not too sure how well Lily's going to like having to hear my keys from across the floor in her own room through the door - and yes, I type that loudly. I should fix that. "What's up?"

"I...saw a little bit earlier, when I first walked in, but...a-are you...ambidextrous?"

I nod. "Yup. Comes in kinda handy sometimes...lets me do two things at once. It's pretty nice."

Matthew smiles, and I can tell that she's smiling without looking at her because of the very slight composed giggle that she makes.

"It's...it must be weird, isn't it," she remarks, "for someone like me to be all...amazed at someone who's ambidextrous."

"Ambidexterity is pretty rare even among mages, in my own personal experience. Mages are, after all, only human..." I shrug. "It's one of those things that you just kinda have to train yourself to do. Unless you're born with it, then I guess you just got lucky..."

"Were you born with it, Senpai?"

"Me? Oh hell no. I - I learned it."

"Oh. What made you learn how to become ambidextrous?"

I take a moment to recall exactly that time. What was it again? It's been a while...

Was it the knives? Or was it the guns? I remember those times clearly, but it's just hard to tell which of them forced me to teach myself how to use both hands at once.

"Hm. Let's just say..." I decide to answer, "...practicality."

"...practicality?"

"Yeah. I learned it because I felt I had to."

"Oh..."

Matthew doesn't ask me anything more after that. I get the feeling that she wants, to, but she's getting the sense that she shouldn't. Or maybe I'm just putting words in her head by this point, who knows.

True to my word, after exactly three minutes and forty-one seconds, I finish my data entry, print out the invoices, and set them in my scanner to have them scanned so that I can send the invoices off to my customers via email. After filing them into their respective folders and setting those folders back in their rack, I get up and magically set my work computer to sleep before turning to Matthew.

"Alright, I'm done for the morning. You eat lunch yet?" I ask Matthew, who shakes her head.

"That was actually what I was going to ask you about too," she admits, giving me a shy smile, "but...I forgot to ask..."

"Oh, really? That's fine, though. We can go make something now, if you want."

Matthew nods, and together we leave my bedroom/office, with Fou hopping off my bed to trail us, and we head down the stairs. I sense Lily in the living room, probably sitting on the couch there, and when the two of us come down, I glance over and find Lily indeed sitting on the couch with a book in her hands, reading with the most elegant of postures _The Tale of Desperaux_ \- damn, I haven't read that book since I was fourteen.

"So I'm guessing that Servants also come summoned with the ability to read English?" I ask Matthew.

"The FATE system actually summons them in such a way that they are able to communicate with any human being in the world so that they can ignore the language barriers that would otherwise be in place," Matthew explains quietly, so as not to distract Lily while she's reading. "Normally, without this magical mechanism, they wouldn't be able to communicate with you because they would only be able to speak in their native languages."

"So...it's basically an omniscient translator, then."

"Um...it's a little bit more complicated than just a simple translator, but if that's how you want to look at it..."

"I mean, it's a pretty good reference point to start off on..."

The combination of us stepping down onto the second floor and our chattering makes Lily finally privy to our presence, and alarmed that she hasn't greeted me yet when I've stepped into her line of sight, Lily cries out haplessly and practically flings aside the book onto the next couch over as she quickly follows after us, catching up when we're in the kitchen.

"Hey. Do you wanna have lunch?" I ask Lily, raising a hand to greet her as I'm already digging through the fridge to decide on what kind of meal we should have today.

"Yes, Master! Uh, uh, uh, I-I mean - !" Lily, suddenly overcome with embarrassment at how easily she gets distracted by the mention of food, grabs her flaming cheeks and shakes her head to and fro. "I-I sincerely beg your pardon for not greeting you properly, Master!"

"Well, we found you reading a book, so I figured you wouldn't wanna be distracted."

Lily moans softly, trying her best to contain her embarrassment as I set out some potatoes, carrots, eggs, duck meat, and bacon.

"What will you make today, Senpai?" Matthew asks curiously, and she definitely sounds like she wants to help make lunch with me.

"A stir fry," I answer. "It's quick and easy, and I've gotten pretty good at makin' 'em."

"Would you like me to help?"

"Uh, if you insist, then I suppose so, yeah. If you can cut the potatoes, that'd be nice."

"I-I'd like to help too, Master, if you'd allow me," Lily also volunteers. "But...but I think I should mention that I've...never really...cooked before, so...i-if you wouldn't like me to help, then I will just content myself to sitting and waiting..."

"No, you can help if you want. I'll show you what to do."

Three quarters of an hour and many mishaps with Lily's various adorable failures at cooking later, I set down Matthew's and Lily's plates before them, both of whom gasp softly with delight at the comforting scent of freshly cooked, diced potatoes with bacon slices, duck meat pieces, and cut carrots, all gently browned to perfection.

"Th-Thank you for the food as always, Master!" Lily exclaims with the same degree of appreciation as before. I can get used to this, I tell myself as I watch Lily start stuffing herself, as more lilies begin to sprout out of nowhere around her, and Fou, curious about them, walks up to one on the floor to give it a quick sniff.

"So, I'd just like to ask, but is there anything the Servants can do to help to detect the singularity once it hits?" I ask Matthew, who's currently also savoring the gently fried potatoes and bacon. I've always liked my bacon slow-fried and cooked with not too much grease, and I figured the girls would like it the same way. So far, it seems like they do.

"Um...I suggest that you send us out on patrol. Night patrols are best because naturally, less people are around during nighttime," Matthew reasons. "But if you'd like, you can also send us out on daytime patrols. We'd just need civilian clothing to help us blend in and not be so, uh...conspicuous."

"Yeeaaaah..." I drag out the word, the image of Matthew's near-ridiculous costume emblazoned into my mind. "I...agree completely. Not sure how I feel 'bout sending you out in that costume you wear when you turn into your Demi-Servant form."

"Y-You didn't have to bring that up!" Matthew balks, yowling suddenly. "I'm fully aware of the fact that the clothing I wear as a Servant isn't exactly the most flattering!"

"I mean, in _some_ respects, it actually is, to be honest..."

"Senpai, you pervert!"

"Not my fault, I wasn't the one who designed that thing for you. In fact, I wanna ask, do you know who did?"

"Uh...n-no, it...when I first became a Demi-Servant, it kind of...just...came with it."

I scratch my head a little bit incredulously - I get the feeling that I'm going to use that word a lot in the near future.

"Y-You look like you don't believe me, Senpai..." Matthew murmurs worriedly, forking her stir-fried potatoes and carrots.

"Oh, no, I believe you, it's just...it'd be really nice to know the thing or person who decided that _that_ was the best thing you could wear."

"Um...w-why would you like to know...?"

"Oh, y'know...sit 'em down, give 'em a cup of tea, and have a _real, nice long conversation with 'em..."_

"Y-You really don't have to worry about it _that_ much..."

Sighing, I stab a juicy piece of duck meat with my own fork. Being a Korean-American, I've gotten complacent and become a dirty American by resorting to relying only on forks, defecting forever from the chopsticks-master-race peoples known as Asians. Well, that's not entirely true, I still do use chopsticks and am proficient in their use whenever I have to, it's just that _forks are kind of really easy to use..._

"Yeah, you're right. Just a costume..."

We spend the rest of our lunch in silence, working away on our food until there's nothing left on our plates. Since I'm a fast eater, I find myself finished before the other two, though Matthew isn't far behind, and Lily _really_ likes to take her time with the food today. She even lifts up her plate to lick off the light bacon grease and starch from the potatoes right off the plate, because apparently she thinks it's just that good, and when she lowers her plate, she finds me, Matthew, _and_ Fou all gazing at her, watching her do this.

"Ah..."

Slowly lowering her plate down onto the table, Lily drops her gaze, letting her bright blonde bangs hide her eyes as her face goes adorably red yet again.

"It's fine, it's fine," I try to reassure her, smiling at her frequent bouts of embarrassment. "I'm glad you like my food that much. I don't have that much experience cooking for other people, y'know, so...I was kinda nervous that maybe either of you wouldn't like it..."

"Oh, no, no, the food - the food is fantastic, Senpai!" Matthew quickly reassures me right back, starting to smile quite warmly as she's done before. "I'm very grateful that I've been able to have the opportunity to eat home-cooked meals like this. The food back at Chaldea was good, but...at the end of the day, it's just cafeteria food, after all..."

"Oh God, _cafeteria food_..." I roll my eyes more dramatically than need be. To be fair, my high school cafeteria food actually wasn't bad at all, I'm just going off the usual stereotype that cafeteria food in American public schools is absolute ass.

"I-It wasn't that bad, to be honest," Matthew says quickly - wow, such deja vu.

"Then thank God for home-cooked food, am I right," I declare, getting up from my seat to take my plate and reaching for Matthew's and Lily's, but they both grab their own plates quickly before I can do that for them and stand up from their own chairs.

"W-We can help," Lily insists, perhaps trying to redeem herself after her little moment.

Once we get the the dishes washed and the frying pan that I used to cook the food also washed and scrubbed clean, since I'm not a fan of leaving dishes and plates inside the kitchen sink to pile up as the week goes on, I tell the girls to meet me in the living room, where Lily was staying reading her book. I head upstairs into my room, open up one of the two big mirror sliding walls that hide what's essentially a big closet meant for storing clothes and other miscellaneous junk that you want to keep hidden from guests, but since I don't own that many clothes to warrant filling up a huge closet like this, it's mostly filled with boxes, themselves filled with nothing but manila folders that contain the paperworks of previous shipments that I've worked on over the years. It's not just me being a gosh-darn pack rat, freight forwarders like me by US law have to keep records of the shipments they process for at least seven or so years - or something like that, I could be getting the number of years wrong. Point is, we're mandated to have records of shipments we work on so that in case the government finds out that a certain shipment containing counterfeit goods entered the country at some point, they're going to track down the freight forwarder who processed the shipment and send the damn fuzz - in this case, the FBI - to them to investigate, and if you don't have the paperwork for that one shipment 'cause you thought that it'd been cleared a long time ago and you threw it all away like a dumbass, well...off to prison you go.

And I'd rather not be in prison. It's not the greatest place on Earth...trust me, I'd know. And you know how the police and government law enforcement agencies are these days...not worth the trouble.

Other than the stacks of heavy boxes filled with folders and papers, in the very middle, behind the low wall of boxes stand three metal cases, and I reach over and pull them all out. One of them is a rectangular case, a very long one, while the other two are the same size, much smaller, box-like cases. I stack the smaller two on top of the big long case (definitely no innuendo there, no sir) and lift them all up together and carry them downstairs to the living room. The girls watch me with keen interest as I join them and sit down in the middle of the room, on the carpet that sits in the middle too, in front of the couches and that supports the low glass table that also stands in front of the couches. I don't set down the metal cases on the glass table, for good reason, instead setting them down in front of me, a little ways away from the glass table.

"What are those, Master?" Lily asks curiously, watching me with Matthew and Fou as I hold my hands over both of the smaller metal cases.

"You'll see...it's related to what I wanted to talk about," I murmur, my focus on the metal cases. The cases have built-in lock dials on them, but they turn on their own as I simply hold my hands over them, small blue circular runes appearing over the lock dials. Once they've been flipped to their correct numbers, the metal cases make a soft but distinct pair of _click!_ 's to notify that they've been unlocked, and I open them up.

A pair of Magnum Research Desert Eagle handguns gaze back up at me. Polished Chrome, chambered for .44 Magnum to make their uses legal in the state of California, 6-inch barrel with a muzzle brake, with custom finishes - the one on my left is beautifully painted blue and white, while the one on my right is just as equally dressed with red and black.

As I pull them both out of their cases, both of the girls stare in wonder, not knowing what they are. Well, scratch that, I'm sure they both know what these are, but it's probably their first time actually seeing two of them in person like this.

"Th-Those are...pistols, right?" Matthew asks timidly, pointing a shy finger at them as I set them down on the edge of the glass table near me.

"Yeah. These are my close-range weapons of choice...since I'm honestly a lazy-ass mage, and just shooting people is a lot easier," I shrug, closing the Desert Eagles' cases and setting them aside for now. "That, and they're a lot more fun to play with."

I open the next case, the big one, and from the inside, out peeks a rifle - an Armalite AR-10. Urban digital hex camouflage (totally unnecessary, I only ordered it because I thought it looked cool), chambered for .308 Winchester/7.62x51mm, eighteen-inch barrel, and a ten-round mag capacity to, again, make it legal in the state of California. 1:10''RH rifling twist, standard Armalite tunable muzzle brake, MBA-1 lightweight precision buttstock, MIL-STD 1913 rail with 7075-T6 aluminum forged lower receiver, ambi safety, Timney trigger with a four-pound trigger pull, and ambi charging handle. I've always fancied AR-15 platform rifles - I don't know why, again, I just think they're pretty cool.

This time, Matthew has no words as I also stand my AR-10 rifle up by its stock, leaning it gently against the side of the glass table. For the sake of gun safety, I pull back the slides of the two Desert Eagles to verify that they're empty and pull open the action on the AR-10 to do the same, and all three guns are unloaded and magazine-less.

"Don't touch these, I'll be right back - gotta grab a few things," I tell the girls, and I hurry off back to my room to retrieve my gun-cleaning supplies that I keep in another smaller box and bring that down too. I also stop by the small cabinets that are on the third floor in between my room and the guest rooms and take a nice, clean blanket too to spread over the carpet so that the gun-cleaning won't ruin my carpet. Armed with these materials, I head back down to the living room and resume my seat after spreading out the blanket, setting down my guns onto the blankets now that it's safe for me to set them down on the floor.

"These are...weapons, yes?" Lily asks hesitantly, watching me as I swiftly begin to disassemble my Desert Eagles first, with my AR-10 waiting for its own cleaning patiently to my right side.

"Right. They're called firearms - these ones that I'm working on right now are called handguns or pistols, and the one next to me to my right is called a rifle," I explain while I pop the barrels out with the takedown buttons and remove the recoil springs. "What I'm doing right now is maintenance - gun cleaning. I haven't used these a while, and since we've got this singularity that we've gotta deal with coming up soon at any time, I figured it'd be a good time now while I have the chance to clean them so that they're in the best condition possible when I need 'em."

The girls watch me as I complete field-stripping the handguns. Once they're field-stripped, I start with their barrels, taking a few clean pieces of white rags, spraying some Break-Free CLP cleaner lubricant, and stuffing them through the barrels with a Tipton palmer pick.

"So what I wanted to talk to you two about was how we're going to fight," I tell them, my eyes fixed on my guns as I clean them through and through. "Since Lily's a Saber-Class, and since we've seen you with your sword, we know that you'll handle the brunt of the fighting, up close and personal. I assume that you're kind of the same role, right, Matthew?"

"Uh, yes. I will be fighting alongside Miss Lily and protect her as she fights," Matthew nods firmly.

"Okay. So that means that, for the two of you to be melee fighters, it'd probably be a good idea to have a ranged fighter to handle ranged opponents, should they show up, since you two'll have trouble dealing with enemies who can attack you from afar. I'll fill that role, and I'll take care of anyone who's out of your reach, since they won't be out of mine with these."

Matthew nods firmly again. "We've...only ever heard of a few mages who're willing to fight with modern weapons like these. That's so cool that you like to use these, too. Most everyone usually sticks with traditional practices of magecraft..."

I simply give her a shrug. "I mean, there're lots'a modern technologies that mages can take advantage of nowadays; they just don't for whatever reason."

Once I finish with the cleaning, since the guns, including the AR-10, themselves don't really need a whole lot, I reassemble them back together quickly. I excuse myself again and return to my room for a third time - I probably should've just brought everything down at once - and this time, I bring down yet another large metal case, this time filled with nothing but spare empty magazines for my Desert Eagles and AR-10 and ammunition: twenty boxes of Federal Premium Hydra-Shock P44HSA 240JHP and fifteen boxes of AMM-727 7.62x51mm. Except, when I slide the bullet carriers out, all of the bullets are empty - they're all just casings.

I take the spare empty mags and put them next to their respective guns - fifty magazines for my pistols, fifty mags for my rifle. (This box is _huge._ ) I take the empty bullets and, one by one, fill them with mana, condensing them into a state where they can keep their own solid form as bullet-like entities within the casings, and then load them, one by one, into the magazines. I do this until all of my empty spare magazines are filled with magical ammo.

"...this seems like a lot of work, Senpai..." Matthew murmurs, almost like she's feeling sorry for me.

"It is," I agree wholeheartedly.

"If it is so much work simply to maintain your weapons, Master, do you believe that these 'firearms' are worth this much maintenance in combat?" Lily also asks.

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I wouldn't use them if they weren't worth it to take with me to fights. Besides, you're a knight, right? You of all people should know how tedious it is to prepare your equipment."

Lily looks quite bewildered.

"Um...o-on the contrary, Master, my...my mana is able to magically maintain my sword," Lily corrects me.

"So does mine," Matthew adds. "I don't have to maintain my shield because my mana will automatically take care of it after battles over time."

I give the two of them less-than-pleased looks.

"How nice it must be for you," I mutter quite dryly.

"But you can do the same, can't you? You're a mage, after all, Senpai," Matthew insists.

I simply shrug again. "I dunno. I like taking the time to take care of my equipment like this. I think it's pretty fun. Maybe it doesn't look that way to you, and I understand, but...I suppose, to each their own."

With all of the magazines loaded, I snap a mag of ten magic bullets into my AR-10, but I don't pull back the charging handle since there's no reason for me to load the gun right now. Instead, I raise the rifle and point it away from the girls, instead aiming in the direction of my kitchen where there is no one there, with my finger safely resting against the side of the trigger guard. As I hold my rifle, on the sightless rail appears another blue magic rune that swirls clockwise into view and magically zooms in everything that the rune itself covers in my line of sight, even providing me a convenient red dot in the center to facilitate my aim. I control how much mana I'm putting into the scope, and the zoom level fluctuates to my will, warping back out to a normal field of view, then zipping back to a deep zoom for long-range, and then reverting back to a smaller zoom level for medium-range engagements.

Now that my rifle is ready for combat again, I release the mag, set it down, and open the rifle's bolt to double-check that it's indeed unloaded. I then grasp the rifle by the front of its stock and by the middle of the long eighteen-inch barrel, and two runes appear at the ends of the weapon, swiftly swallowing up the rifle out of view and taking it from my hands. I do the same with my Desert Eagles, and then finally with all the magazines of magic ammo that I've made.

Once everything's ready, I clap my hands together once.

"Now we're ready for some hunting," I nod with a small grin.


	6. Night Entourage

Nighttime. After I get my portion of evening work out of the way and after I feed my servants with a light supper with the promise that I'd fix some more food for them upon arriving back home after our little outing tonight, I take Matthew and Lily outside in my Mercedes to give them a quick tour of my town, Tierra del Illamas; in hindsight, I probably should have given them this little tour _before_ the nighttime run, but I had a few important calls to make in the afternoon, ones that kind of crept up out of nowhere...damn trucking companies, I feel like I may have to take some time on a weekend or something to search for better ones, which I'm sure I'll be able to, given the fact that small trucking businesses are as numerous as convenience stores...well, not exactly, I'm exaggerating, but I think the analogy still stands a little.

"So about these Command Spells," I mention to Matthew. No one is sitting shotgun, so I have to turn my head a little to make it clear that I'm speaking to them, which should've been obvious in the first place so long as they're paying attention, which they are, while slow-tempo glitch hop bounces from my car's speakers. "I know that if I use them, I can order any Servant of mine to obey any order. But that seems really...I don't know, _general._ Could you describe the extent of their, uh, abilities, I guess?"

"Yes, of course. The Command Spells, like you said, can be given to any of your Servants and have them obey one command of your choice," Matthew begins to explain. "They're very powerful, Senpai. So powerful, in fact, that your Command Spells can give your Servants the ability to even break natural laws of space and time to heed your order; that, and a Servant who is issued such a command from your Command Spell _must_ obey it, no matter what their own feelings about it may be."

"How convenient," I chortle sarcastically, but only with a light touch of sarcasm. "So then, uh, do you have like an example that you can tell me about? Just to give me an idea?"

"Well, there have been well-documented cases of Masters ordering their Servants to rescue them from a bad situation when said Servants were physically a long distance away, and they were able to warp straight to their Masters and protect them in time."

"Like how far of a distance are we talking? Do you know?"

"Uhh...I want to say...maybe anywhere from one to five kilometers?"

"But it can go farther than that?"

"The nature of the Command Spells allows Servants to do things that normally would be impossible, given the world's natural laws, like I said. So yes, I imagine that the distance can be much longer, if there's any real maximum limit at all." Matthew clears her throat while she adjusts her glasses. "You should also know that the strength of Command Spells depend on both the capability and will of the Master using them, and that the type of order given when issuing a Command Spell changes the strength of the Spell. So naturally, the more gifted of a mage you are, the stronger your Command Spells will be; simple enough. But the type of command also affects Command Spell strength because in the end, the Command Spells are an advanced type of magecraft, and giving something like a broad order causes the magic in a Spell to be spread over a long period of time, usually. As opposed to a more direct, a more momentarily action or order, which is _very_ powerful, to the point where the Servant who is issued that Command Spell order will feel like his or her body is simply moving on its own without any regard for his or her own will. Generally speaking, unless you are a powerful enough mage, Command Spells are not intended to be used for generalized, broad orders; they are only meant to command your Servants to overcome a particular instance in which complete obedience is deemed necessary. Oh, but so long as you get along with your Servants, you shouldn't really need them. Most of the time, anyway."

"Lily's getting along just fine, so does that mean I'm on the right track?" I ask light-heartedly.

"Hopefully so, Senpai. Oh, and there is something else I'd like to add, now that I think about it."

"And that is?"

"For the purposes of this singularity, the Command Spells that you have received to denote your status as a Master is a weaker form of the Command Spells that usually would be used in conflicts like the Holy Grail War. So while you can use them to the same potential as standard types of Command Spells, just know that in general, they're considerably weaker, so there is a chance that even for direct, explicit orders, your Servants may be able to resist them if they are willful or powerful enough, or both."

"Great."

"But the Command Spells that you have are purposefully made weaker so that they can recharge on their own, one per day. That's the trade-off that your Command Spells have - they can regenerate on their own, in exchange for less authority and absolution."

"Hm. So...what would be the point of having Command Spells if I happen to get along with everyone, to the point where they'd follow any order I give them, regardless of me using Command Spells or not?"

"Ermm..." Matthew falls silent for a moment. "A-As a safety precaution, I think...? Servants _can_ become corrupted and be forced against their will to act against you, their own Master, so...I'm thinking maybe a Command Spell can help bring them back, even if it's only for a few moments...?"

"Hm. So as a contingency plan, then."

"Yeah...s-something like that."

"Doesn't sound like a reliable one, though."

"Well, it all depends on how well you know your Command Spells and how effectively you use them. For the reasons I've stated, they can obviously be either very powerful, or...not so powerful."

"Yeah, I figured..."

We begin to pass Meridian Park that we've visited yesterday night, after successfully summoning Lily through her Summoning Ticket, and I point out towards the shotgun window to motion to it as we pass.

"So that's Meridian Park we're passing right now, obviously. If in case we have to have battles here against strong people, this's the place where you wanna come to to fight 'em. I've got a few emergency runes set up here, like Presence Concealments and minor mana transfers and healing that'll go off when it detects any of you coming in and about to fight; those runes are passive, so they'll automatically trigger when they sense that you're in combat. On top of which, it's got a whole section of open ground beyond the benches on the far side of the park, so in case you need that extra space, the runes I've set up here stretch all the way down."

"...wait a minute, Senpai, you only had that one Presence Concealment rune active when we summoned Lily," Matthew points out, taking a moment to think about the events of last evening. "Since when did you set up more? Or were they always there?"

"Just before we left the park," I reply.

"But...you were with us. We all walked together back to the car."

"Yeah, I know."

Matthew falls silent. The song that was playing finishes, transitioning to another song, this time some electronic house, something like the chill music you'd find playing at a semi-formal restaurant or a classy bar, creating an ambience that really matches the soothing cool blue lights that my car has on to decorate the interior, running underneath the dashboard and along the sides of the doors, just over the handlebars.

I continue driving down the main road, past a supermarket and down to yet another park, this one called Pipper Park. The entrance is blocked off by a big metal rotating arm, indicating that the park is closed for the day, but I still pull into the driveway that leads further down into the de-elevated parking lot beyond the metal gate and shut off the engine, exiting my car and leaving it parked right in front of the gate, with enough room to back up and exit when we return.

"I-Is it alright for us to park here like this...?" Matthew asks worriedly, joining Lily as the two of them follow after me while I duck underneath one of the bars of the gate made of steel bars as thick as the ones they use to make basketball hoops. As soon as she emerges from the car, Lily magically equips her armor, which is evident by the sharp clacking of steel plates behind me, and once I'm past the gate by simply ducking underneath it, I turn around to observe Lily's battle outfit, and sure enough, she, too, ducks underneath the gate with Matthew in her armor that seems to make her glow just a little bit subtly in the pitch darkness illuminated only by the nearby street lights and the lights radiating off the intersection lights that control the traffic that would come into the park during the day.

"This isn't really a combat mission, so you don't really _need_ to be in full armor right now," I reassure Lily, but Lily firmly stands up to me, grasping her sword handle with both of her metal gloved-hands.

"I am a knight in training, Master. I must always remind myself that I must be ready to do battle, even during times when we are to least expect it," Lily declares, trying her best to be serious and charismatic, but her cuteness bleeds through too much for me to be able to take her seriously, though I don't show or tell her that. "And as a Servant, I must be able to protect my Master."

Well, I figure it's not really worth it to make a fuss over something like this, so I nod back at her. "Okay, fair enough. Follow me."

We begin to walk down the sloped road that leads into, as I said before, the long parking lot reserved for the cars of park visitors. It looks deceptively small at first, but that's only until you realize that the parking lot itself, while only having a single row of parking spaces, is _very_ long, meaning that it actually can hold a big number of cars, and if space happens to run out, there's enough space along the sides and an additional albeit smaller parking lot on the other side of the park too that the park employees can open up in case there are special events going on. And as we head down, careful with our steps while walking down this somewhat unnecessarily steep road and sidewalk, I glance over at Lily momentarily.

"How are you liking it so far, Lily?" I ask. "'Cause, like, I'm sure this world is a lot different than how you remember it, not to mention us being...what, five thousand miles or something from your home country...? Or is it six thousand...? Might be more, might be less..."

"Ah...i-it's very pleasant, Master," Lily hurriedly says. "And I'm...I am not just referring to all the excellent food, of course, I - "

"...you're still hungry, aren't you."

"N-No, no, of - of course not, Master, I - I wouldn't - "

Lily is a terrible liar. Just from the sound of her voice stumbling multiple times and starting to crack so easily I can tell that the light dinner clearly wasn't enough to satisfy her hunger, though I kind of knew what to expect with the first few times I've made food for her. And just to confirm, I glance over my shoulder as we're walking and find Lily to be purposely looking away, trying very hard not to make eye contact, but she does anyway on accident when she sees me glance over at her out of the corner of her eye.

"It's fine, like I said, I'll make you some more when we get back," I smile a little, facing forward again to make sure I'm not about to trip over anything while going down the slope. "No, I'm just asking because this place...this town, rather, of Tierra del Illamas, it's a special place in that it naturally generates a good amount of magic energy, raw mana. I think the correct term for this place would be a 'Spiritual Land'...? Correct me if I'm wrong..."

"Raw natural mana...no wonder," Matthew muses quietly.

"No wonder what?"

"Well...ever since we started living here, I've been noticing that my body's mana circulation has been more...active, like it's flowing through my body better and more efficiently. I thought maybe it was because of the food you were cooking, or maybe a result of your own mana being passively transferred to us due to the contract we have as Servant and Master, or maybe even because of this town's really good weather...but now that you mention it..."

"That's certainly true!" Lily agrees cheerfully. "I was worrying when I was summoned that I would have trouble maintaining my mana, but thankfully if the land is providing a steady level of mana for me, that means I don't have to burden Master with it..."

"What do you mean, not burden me with it?" I ask for clarification.

"Oh! Um...uh..." Lily gets all flustered again, but this time because she's trying to put her thoughts into words. "Well, you see, Master, I - you sounded like you were familiar with my legend, right?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Like the general stuff, not too deep into the details, though, so sorry about that."

"No, please, um, you don't have to be...well, my heart is...I possess the heart of a dragon, and it generates a level of mana that is usually much stronger than many other Heroic Spirits who can be summoned into Servants like me, but that also causes me to consume much more mana, should I use up a lot of it in fighting. And...well, naturally, my Master would have to be one of the major sources of mana in those times, so...that's why I said that it is a good thing if the land itself can supply mana naturally."

"But Senpai, how does this land generate mana on its own?" Matthew asks while we reach a flight of stairs that leads down to the park's main office, which is the only real structure here in the park. It's quite a tall flight of stairs, by the way, since, in case you couldn't tell by now, this park is sort of built into the side of a hill, with a main administration office and a single basketball court sitting side by side before you climb down _another_ flight of stairs to get to the actual park itself, complete with a kid's playground. It's complicated; you'd have to be here to really get what's going on. "I don't think I have heard of this place...usually lands that are capable of generating mana are recorded in Chaldea's magic registries..."

"I'm not totally sure, actually," I shrug, admitting my ignorance freely. "I've tried figuring out why, but...all my tests come up inconclusive, or I just didn't find anything at all. All I know is that I'm sure this land produces natural mana on its own. It's not a _lot_ , though, to be fair, so that's probably why no one really knows of this place."

"That's...that's true, it's definitely not _too_ much..." Matthew agrees. "But it's definitely noticeable at the same time."

We reach the top of the next flight of stairs that will take us down to the kid's playground, but we stop there, since it gives us a very good panoramic view of the rest of the rolling grass fields that make up the rest of the park, aside from the baseball field off to our left and the extra picnic tables way down to our far right.

"And...I forgot to ask before when we got out of the car, but...are you sure we can be here right now, Senpai?" Matthew asks, again in her worried, concerned tone. "The gate was locked and everything...and the park hours clearly said that this place is closed..."

"They don't really care that much," I shrug nonchalantly this time. "We're not gonna get in trouble for lurking around here. This town's really safe...not really much in way of criminal activity on its own. The people who work here won't even bother coming to check the park during nighttime anyway - and if they really wanted to, the town's rich enough to have a surveillance system installed here."

I resume gazing out to the rolling grass fields briefly.

"This park is also another good place to have a battle if you need to," I nod to my Servants. "Again, it's got the same passive runes installed here as the ones back at Meridian Park. Come here if you're fighting a strong Servant or something, and my runes should help you out a little."

"Maintaining so many runes like this..." Matthew murmurs aloud, looking out to the fields while Lily gazes in subtle astonishment at the beautiful nighttime landscape of a somewhat starry sky, the dark sea painted with the black of the night off in the far distance, and the rolling grass fields below. "Just how much mana do you use to keep them up, Senpai?"

"Not...a lot, I guess?" I scratch my head, trying to think, feeling a nice, cool night breeze kick up against us. "I dunno, I've never thought it was a problem. The passive runes, I mean."

"And not to mention, they don't really...resemble any that I'm used to seeing."

"Oh, that's because my runes are custom-made. I had to teach myself, really...didn't any real proper tutoring from anyone..."

"C-Custom-made?!" Matthew balks, and I just glance at her oddly, having the look that asks her if she's alright. "But...if they're custom-made, then that means you haven't been practicing magecraft for a long time, right?"

"Hmm..." I recount the years that I've been considered a mage...or, well, considered _myself_ a mage. "I first started _learning_ back in, what, 2011, when just about when I was a senior in high school...are you counting the years I was under training, or no?"

"Either way, that's a very short time to have gotten good at rune construction and general magic application." Matthew is staring at me like I'm a freak of nature, though it won't be the first time I see someone give me that look, and I doubt it'll be the last. "Senpai, does...does Miss Olga know about this? About how short of a time you've been practicing magic?"

I smile casually, almost breaking into a chuckle. "Well, I mean, for starters, the two of us have never even met in person, and I've never really given her my personal details like age or whatnot..."

 _"You two never even met...?!"_

"Let's not go flying off the stairs here, it's kinda dangerous here at the top." I raise a hand at Matthew slowly to try to get her to compose herself, which she does, thankfully. "I'll explain: basically, I've only ever seen in her person once, a few years ago, when I attended the Contract Magi Conference, the orientation for contract mages like me to attend to acclimate us to working with Chaldea. I know what she looks like and who she is, but on an individual level, Olga doesn't know us, unless we've gone specifically out of our way to meet with her, which I didn't. But I'm a little curious to know why you're so intrigued...like, I mean I _know_ that the number of years I've been doing the whole mage thing doesn't really add up with how good I am with it, but I don't think I'm _that_ great...I'm sure there're a ton of mages out there who're stronger than me as far as magecraft application goes."

"Er...yes, I'm...I'm sorry, Senpai," Matthew clears her throat, deciding to refrain from balking any more. "I-I was...I was only asking because...it's very surprising to know that you've established such a mastery of magic, both in such a short time and without any sort of magical family background to give you any additional magic potential or capability. At least, that's what we saw from your portfolio that you submitted for the Chaldean contract mercenary records..."

"Yeah, I don't have any magic family. None that I remember, anyway." I clear my own throat this time to get back to the task at hand. "Anyways, hope you two got a good look at this place, 'cause we'll be moving on."

Lily, listening quietly to me and Matthew patiently and diligently, takes in one last good look at the park, giving off a bit of a pensive smile before turning and realizing that I've been watching her, and when I smile quietly back at her, she quickly turns her eyes away, a little embarrassed at what she must've been looking like when gazing out to the nighttime, moonlit scenery of the park. I beckon for them to follow so that we can return to the car, and we head back up the stairs, and I listen to the clinking of Lily's holy sword, Caliburn, as it bumps against the metal railings on Lily's side.

Once we all pile back into the car, Lily unequipping her armor so that she can fit more comfortably inside the car and so that she can avoid scratching up my Mercedes, I pull the car out of the blocked-off driveway so that we can continue on.

"Um...now that I think about it, since your magecraft is clearly very good, couldn't you just have just given us this tour from your home? Like...visualization magecraft? Or is it that maybe you don't excel in that field?"

"Uhhh...I think I can do it, all I'd have to do is memory application," I call back, looking at Matthew through the rear-view mirror. "But not only have I never done that, but I think it's just better if I physically take you two around and show you two the places where I'd like you to see and know; it's obviously a lot different coming to these places yourselves and getting to know what the place looks like and feels like, rather than looking at it through memory projection. Nothing ever beats the real thing...that, and I really like driving at night in this town. It's relaxing."

"I-I also really like it too, Master!" Lily reassures me. "Before I became a Servant, my own life, I traveled Britain far and wide with my brother Kay and my attendant Merlin. It is important to travel and get to know the people and the land, very important."

"Although we're basically just doing some sight-seeing, is what it all boils down to," I remark. "But it's nice that you like traveling."

"Do you like traveling too, Master?"

"Me? Uhhh...yeah, I guess I like it. A lot, actually...but usually I'm pretty content to just stay at home. I only ever really travel if it's for business. I don't really go out of my way to travel just for my own pleasure...though sometimes I wonder why I don't when I've got the time."

"If you do get the time, I'd love to show you around Britain! If you're, um, interested in seeing the places I saw in my time..." Lily says shyly.

"Britain, huh. I've actually been there once..." I frown, though. "Friggin' Mage's Association, though...yeck."

"So you know of the Mages' Association, huh, Senpai..." Matthew asks hesitantly.

"Yeah...and as you can probably tell, I'm not a fan. Even if I don't like Olga, at least Chaldea's pretty open about who they contract with as their mercenary mages and they're generally pretty chill with us, comfortable with us being part-time employees who can just come and go freely without feeling heavily obligated to dedicating ourselves to their resources. Not that Chaldea provides us with much in the first place, so I guess there's no point in me saying that..."

"I-I can take you to other places, Master..." Lily mumbles, clearly wondering if she's accidentally stepped on a land mine for me. "Places that, um, don't remind you of this...Mages' Association..."

"Of course. Maybe when we have the time, or even the opportunity," I say quickly, not really wanting Lily to get worried over me.

"Why don't you like the Mages' Association, Senpai?"

"Bunch'a fucking half-ass mages too high off the smell of their own assholes that they clearly don't wipe," I casually drop some profanities that clearly catch the two girls off guard, since they're not used to hearing me swear. It makes me wonder how Lily takes it, whether or not she really fully understands the insults I'm lobbing around. "It's an institution that promotes secretism, discrimination, and egoism. If I understand it correctly, which I'm sure I may be missing out on a lot of details, if only because I didn't bother learning more about them during my time there, the way the Mages' Association is structured is deliberately intended to create internal friction among its members due to the things I mentioned, about secretism, discrimination, and egoism. It instigates selfishness and greed, and I feel like those things tend to make people in the Mages' Association just generally not very pleasant people, and I don't think I have the patience to deal with them, and I certainly don't want to see if I do."

"If...it makes you feel any better, the Chaldean Security Organization isn't too fond of them either," Matthew testifies. "I believe Miss Olga's father was part of the Mages' Association, but she herself is not, because of Chaldea. In other words, her father left her with enough to afford not having to join the Mages' Association, but...as a result, the Mages' Association tends to ostracize her and Chaldea..."

"Figured as such. I wouldn't be surprised at all if war breaks out between the two, and Olga needs me to come on over and fight against the Association. Not that I'd have a problem with that..."

"I think we would prefer _not_ having war with them...Chaldea is too young of an organization, and even if it contracts out mercenary mages from around the world, the Association possesses too many talented and strong mages for us to handle."

"Pity. I'd bet their arrogance would still get in the way and fuck 'em up, though."

"But do we want to risk that?"

"Probably not." I sigh a little. "I'll just stick to my little town in this obscure corner of America. That's good enough for me."

I drive across one final intersection to pull the car up into a small road that leads into another parking lot, this time one for a hub of trails that sprawls with the roads that run on either side of the intersection behind us. Again, the parking lot is empty, as it is about half-past nine, according to the clock on my car's dashboard.

"We won't go too far, since this's basically the start of a series of trails that run through this area," I explain, pointing off into the directions of the trails that lead away from us. "But as you can see, the ocean is right over that way; if we were to drive further down to our right, we can eventually find places to reach the beach."

"W-Wow..." Lily can't help but express her fascination. "So many beautiful sights, and even with access to the sea...this town is amazing, Master."

"It's a nice place, for sure. I like it a lot too," I nod in agreement. "Nice 'n quiet, and you get to go wherever you want, whenever you want, without anyone bothering you. Nice weather, natural mana from the earth...yup."

I put my hands on my hips, glancing straight up into the black night sky. The moon is out tonight again in full force, shining mightily with the reflections of the sun's light back down to our own secluded little corner of the earth.

"Damn shame when this singularity drops," I murmur unenthusiastically.

"Don't worry, Senpai. We'll do our best to protect it," Matthew reassures me confidently and quietly, and Lily nods strongly too, gripping Caliburn especially tightly while setting it down gently against the ground.


	7. A King's Journey

**A/N:**

 **Frenzy307: If I recall correctly, I think the guaranteed gold card can apply to both Craft Essences and Servants, because the 10-rolls guarantee you an SR, but it can be a 4-star Craft Essence. But maybe you're right, but I unfortunately forgot which 4-stars I received during my initial rolls. I'll have to dig through my account and try to remember which ones they were - and also remember that this story is only loosely based on the game, I may take liberties here and there with representation of the game's mechanics and, of course, my own recollections of playing the game.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Monotonous typing fills my head as my fingers fly and drill the keys of my Razer Blackwidow. Sometimes I wonder to myself if getting a gaming keyboard for my work computer was really necessary, but then the moment I begin typing on it, I forget all my doubts, because I realize just how much I love the sound of loud cherry keys.

This is your cue, as the reader, to call me weird.

While typing data into my data logging software for my business, I glance quickly down at the lower-right corner of my computer monitor. April 21st, half past ten in the morning...and I'm already almost done with work. Well, not that that's a big surprise...in the shipping and freight-forwarding business, like many other standardized, internationalized business where weekends are typically work-free, Fridays tend to be a little slow, since everyone's looking forward to the weekend and overall productivity levels plummet as a result. Not that I fault anyone in particular, I myself can be pretty guilty of this too. After all, it's the weekend...that's more than enough of a reason to slack off on work, and that's a universal mentality across all first-world cultures. Or, so I'd like to think.

As I hit enter on my keyboard and my printer begins to hum and rumble electronically, warming up to print out two copies of the invoice I've made for the shipment I'm working on, the door to my room lets me know that someone is outside by giving me two crisp, polite knocks. I sense my visitor well before she performs those knocks; by this point, as my two house guests have been staying with me for the past two days, I now have a solid grasp over their respective signatures and can tell them apart from one another - and this time, my visitor is Saber Lily.

"Yes, come in," I call over, reaching down to grab my invoice copies. Other than the big fax/scanner/printer all-in-one machine that I've got that I use for primarily copying and faxing purposes, I also have a smaller, black and white inkjet that does nothing _but_ print, and it's quite fast and efficient at it too, compared to the relative monster of a machine that the all-in-one is, and I have it sitting underneath my desk to save space up top. The door opens shyly, and in peeks Saber Lily, whom I turn around in my chair to greet once I place the invoices on my desk, on top of the manila folder that contains the paperwork for this particular piece of work of mine. "Good morning, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Ah..." Lily smiles with a healthy mixture of shyness and nervousness as she slips into my room, closing the door behind me for courtesy's sake. "I - I would like to ask - er, yes, ask if, um...there is anything you would like me to do..."

I tilt my head a little to the side, making it clear that I'm a little bit puzzled over this kind of request. "Have anything for you to do..." I repeat after her. "As in...?"

"Well..you see, Lady Matthew explained to me the situation..." Lily gestures a little. What's also clear is the fact that she's not totally acclimated to the environment here, given her nervousness when talking to me. I like to think of myself as someone who's easy to approach and talk to, and I've made all the efforts I can to convey that image. "...so I wish to know if there is no assignment you would like me to undertake. Uh, for example...patrolling, or...guarding, or...?"

Crossing my arms and leaning back a little in my chair, I ponder a little.

"I don't _particularly_ need you to be out patrolling..." I tell her slowly. "Because if anything, I'd rather have everyone stick together."

"Wh-Why's that, Master?"

"Because that way, when the singularity appears, we can attack as a cohesive unit. I'd rather not risk the chance of sending you and Matthew out to patrol random areas and then have the singularity appear right on top of you. That won't be good at all."

"It's alright, Master. This Artoria Pendragon shall not fall to the likes of petty foes! I may not look it, and I may have introduced myself to you as a knight and a king in training, but I am confident in my abilities to fight!" Lily announces quite proudly, certainly having the air of a confident teenager who's eager to show off what she can do to back up her words. The confidence is quite refreshing, frankly, and I appreciate it dearly.

"I'm sure that you are, but I'd still like to stick to my plan of waiting until the singularity hits so that we can react appropriately."

"Huh...well...if you say so, Master..." Lily sounds quite disheartened and let down, and her facial expression morphs in accordance with the heaviness of her words. "But...I must ask, how will you know when the singularity will appear, Master?"

"Well...you see, I'm what they call a Resident Guardian," I explain, leaning a bit forward in my chair. "Are you familiar with the term?"

Lily shakes her head slowly, so I clear my throat a little.

"Okay. Basically, a Resident Guardian is a mage like me who's settled into a particular region as a permanent resident, with no plans on moving out of that region for the majority of his or her life; that mage is then responsible for handling all magic-related incidents in his or her respective regions, making sure that magic isn't leaked to the general public, correcting magical flaws and inconsistencies, so on and so forth. This isn't a regulated system at all, though - it's very hard for organized magic associations like the Mages' Association to enforce any kind of system for this due to the independence and general lack of cooperation from Resident Mages like myself, and not to mention there are thousands of them spread out around the world. And, of course, there are entire regions around the world that aren't being overseen by Resident Guardians to begin with, so those areas typically become free-for-all stages for anything magic-related. The term can also apply to magic families who've historically lived in a certain area or to magic individuals or families who own their own pieces of land and/or property, so it only makes sense for them to be Resident Guardians by default. In my case, I preside over a couple of towns: this one, called Tierra del Illamas, and the surrounding towns of Nelson, Archibrod, and Watson Estates. The big city up north, Los Angeles, is also _technically_ under my supervision, but that's such a huge city and region that several other Resident Guardians have staked claims there too and are messing around there."

Lily looks concerned. "Are you not worried about those other Resident Guardians who are intruding on your turf? I think Merlin told me before that generally speaking, mages do not like it when others trespass on their designated lands..."

I smile a little, shrugging nonchalantly. "Not really, they don't worry me at all. I don't have a reason to go after them, so long as they don't do anything that I personally object to; besides, they don't even know that I'm the Resident Guardian of this region anyway."

"Eh? They don't?" Lily seems surprised. "Er...well, is there a...a reason for this, um...anonymity, Master?"

"I like not being known. I find it a lot more convenient to be incognito, undercover. I can go places and do things without having to worry about getting recognized." I gaze at Lily for a moment, pausing. "I guess for someone like yourself, it's a little bit difficult to understand that, maybe. But I'd like to assure you that I'm quite knowledgeable in this field."

Lily nods slowly. "If Master decrees it..." she says quietly.

"By the way, you called yourself 'Artoria'," I mention. "But on the Summoning Ticket that had your Heroic Spirit within it, it said that your name was 'Altria'. Is there a name that you prefer? Other than me calling you Lily, of course."

Blinking with even more puzzlement, Lily stares at me briefly.

"A- _Altria...?"_ she balks somewhat. "Er...I...I've never heard of my name being pronounced that way..."

I rub my chin. "Interesting. Then I'll assume Artoria is the proper pronunciation?"

"That was my name in my life, yes. M-Maybe...maybe modern translations from the records of my life have assigned my name to be spelt and pronounced in that way?"

"Hm, maybe, I can definitely see that happening."

"But...um..." Lily begins to fidget a little, pressing her index fingertips together as she squirms lightly in place. "L...'Lily'...is perfectly fine..."

I smile. How cute.

"You've taken a liking to it?" I ask, causing the floodgates in Lily's cheeks trying desperately to hold back the blood in her face to finally break, and she averts her gaze completely to the carpeted floor as she nods a tiny nod. "That's good, I'm glad you like it. But in case you'd like me to call you something else instead, since, y'know, you're in your whole knight training process, then feel free to let me know anytime."

Saber Lily nods, trying hard to push aside her sense of embarrassment, but I get the sense that if I turn her away now to finish up my work, she'll leave unsatisfied. And _wow_ , that sounds lewd as hell.

"If you'd like to train, I can make time for you this evening," I tell her. "Actually, tell you what: today's a Friday, which means my work here'll end pretty early, and after that, I'd like to take you around the local area here, specifically the shopping mall and the supermarket that's nearby. So for that, would you like to eat lunch outside, or have lunch at home here?"

"E-Ehh..." Lily frets a little, tempted very much by both of her choices. "Um...w-will the food outside be as good as yours, Master?"

I snort immediately in response to Lily's innocent question.

"You must really like my cooking, huh," I chortle just a bit, causing Lily to blush even harder.

"P-Please, Master, it's - it was very embarrassing for me to say that out loud...!" Lily mumbles, her voice strained and muffled, an obvious sign that Lily wants to raise her voice but can't, because she feels that she'll start being rude.

"I mean, I have no problem cooking lunch for us today again," I shrug. "But it's not like I'm the only one in the world who can make good food. Restaurants and other food places outside have perfectly good meals too that you can try. As a matter of fact, there's one particular place I'd like to show you, and I think you'll love it."

"Really?" Lily sure gets swayed easily by the prospect of food. "Th-Then, if Master personally recommends it, I would love to try!"

"Then wait for me to get this last piece of work done, and we'll get a move on. Oh, and tell Matthew too, since we'll be going together."

"Yes, right away, Master!"

And with that, Lily scampers out of my room to go tell Matthew the plans for today, and I turn around in my chair to finish up these last few shipments.

I've both heard and read, during my time at Chaldea, that the dispositions of Servants can fluctuate hard on the personality spectrum. Cold, calm, reserved, and calculating to personalities that can only be described as batshit insane. I suppose having Saber Lily, who's a perfectly reasonable and unfailingly good-natured Servant, in this retrospect, is a total godsend. Because even if I don't look it or act like it, I can be a serious Debbie Downer sometimes...letting pessimistic thoughts run through my head and becoming all dark and brooding and edgy. I thought that perhaps growing up a little would help me grow out of it, but there come times when I definitely have my moments, and sometimes I have to wonder if growing up alone's shaped me out to be like that. Well...then again, there really can't be anything else that would explain it, can there.

And, now that I think about it, depending on how long this singularity lasts, I may have to expect to spend an extended period of time with these girls and whichever Servants follow. That would essentially mean that I'll start actually living with people, something I haven't done in...I want to say three years, ever since my foster father's death. I'm not sure what to feel about it. Does that mean that I can start calling them family? What even _is_ my definition of a family? Because of all the people on this planet, I am the least qualified to tell anyone, much less myself, what a "family" is. Of course, it would be really easy for me to go ahead and say that I've got a new family living with me now. But that's only if the word, the concept of "family" allows for a unit that only includes friends and comrades, rather than blood-related individuals. I'm not sure if that really applies, at least not in the magic world - I'm aware of the recent trends of English colloquialism these days, where the young'uns are starting to call their friends "fam" and stuff like that.

As I scan the invoices and send them via email attachments to their respective clients, I close out of my browsers and applications and shut down my work computer, getting out of my chair to put on some clothes to head outside. I suppose I'll figure out for myself if what I've got now in my hands is something I feel worthy enough to call a family. Even now, as I exit my room and head down the stairs to meet with Matthew and Lily, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to being able to call them family. It's a little scary, honestly.

Because what if I lose them, just like I lost everyone else?

Even after all these years, that still is a nightmarishly hard question for me to answer.

* * *

"Here we are."

I pull the Mercedes into a space in the parking lot outside the Vons supermarket that I frequently come by to buy groceries. It's either this supermarket or another one down in Nelson, a Korean supermarket that sells Korean food products that I like to stock my fridge with, since, y'know, I'm part Korean and all that. This Vons easily takes care of everything else, though. In the meantime, once I shut off the engine of my car, we climb out, everyone in their casual clothes and all, as we're in public. I _am_ definitely worried about Lily's clothing - even though she's been getting around just fine in that dress and getup, now we're entering the realm of the youthful public, as I like to call it - where young teens with raging hormones are out and about like zombies that walk during the day. It doesn't help that there's a high school that's right around the corner from here, and that now is about the time for kids who don't have a sixth period to be walking out of class and dispersing into the small mall complex here to grab food or just hang out after school.

I'd definitely know, because I graduated from that same school.

"Master? Is there something...?" Lily asks hesitantly, and I find myself staring at Lily on accident while absorbed in my own thoughts.

"Shit, sorry, no, there's - " but I cut myself off - her clothes _definitely_ concern me. "Actually, after we eat lunch, I'd like to buy some clothes for you."

"Huh? C-Clothes...?" Lily shyly glances down at herself, immediately and correctly sensing that I'm taking fault with her current outfit. "...is this choice of attire...considered inappropriate for modern-day public outing?"

"Not _inappropriate,_ but..." I scratch my head a little. "It's definitely not _common_ for people to wear a one-piece dress, black thighhighs, and a ribbon on the back of your head. And besides that, I need to warn you that, since there's a high school nearby with a lot of teenagers, you're gonna get a _whole_ lotta stares from the boys if they start showing up. They _should_ be getting out of class by now..."

"Boys..." Lily's shy smile falters somewhat.

"Not good around them, huh," I take a quick guess.

"Erm...well...it's...it's just that...I prefer to...make company with other girls and women," Lily murmurs.

"Oh, I see. But you can talk to me just fine, though?"

"Th-That's because you are my Master! And...well...I cannot bring myself to be rude to you, especially...especially not after cooking for me...and Lady Matthew..."

At this, I let out a brief and cheery chuckle. "So it's true what they say, the quickest way to everyone's hearts is through their stomachs," I joke around, and Lily fidgets even harder. "Well, enough with that, let's head inside, I'm sure you two're pretty hungry."

"How about you, Senpai? Aren't you hungry too?" Matthew asks as we cross the small street that divides the supermarket from the parking lot next to it.

"A little bit."

We head inside, into the sliding automatic doors. At the sight of an automatic door, Lily flinches slightly in surprise, walking quickly through while looking back at it in marvel. But once we're inside and Lily gets over the whole sliding automatic door thing, she takes one look around and gasps.

"Th-This is a s-supermarket...?" Lily exclaims almost hoarsely, trying to keep her voice down, and she can't help but step briskly towards the nearest fruit stand that carries oranges, tangerines, apples, and bananas, so Matthew and I follow after her.

"I thought Servants were supposed to be summoned with a general knowledge about the era into which they've been summoned?" I murmur quietly out of the corner of my lips to Matthew.

"Well...yes, but I think it's because of Miss Lily's overall innocent and explorative nature," she says back. "Remember that she's called herself a knight in training."

"She just _looks_ really young. I was mentioning high school kids and all that, but she looks like she's gotta be that age, right?"

"I think so too...perhaps seventeen, eighteen?" Matthew takes a look up at me. "Um...I don't mean to be rude, Senpai, but...how old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

Blinking at me, Matthew takes a step back in surprise.

"What?" I ask casually, raising an eyebrow over at her.

"T-Twenty-two...? But...but you look so much younger than that..." Matthew stutters, looking me down from head to toe.

"What, did you think I was in high school?" I grin with just a smidge of sarcasm.

"Erm...well, I _did_ think that you at least _graduated_ high school...seeing that it's obvious you are working and all..."

"Excellent deductive skills, Watson. Now let's go grab Lily before she takes three hours to tour the whole supermarket..."

We head over to Lily, who's just standing in front of the watermelon counter and staring at all the ripe and succulent watermelons sitting out on display for purchase.

"Hey, Lily, let's go have lunch," I call out to her, stepping near her, and she jolts a little, like I'm snapping her out of a daze or something.

"Ah! Y-Yes, of course..." Lily quickly turns to me, like she's trying to act innocent from her captivation by a fruit stand. "S-Supermarkets are...very amazing, yes!"

"They are. It's one of the many reasons why people like me can afford to sit around home all day doing just one job, rather than having to make and grow food for myself," I remark as we swing around over to the small Panda Express restaurant that's situated inside the supermarket; rather than a full-blown restaurant like the one that Matthew and I went to, this one is set up somewhat like a bar, with people lining up right outside the counter to be served. "Here it is. Matthew's already been by here last time - I hope you don't mind having this again?"

"No, it was very good the last time," Matthew shakes her head with a smile, and before we know it, Lily's already staring deeply into the food that sits behind the glass counter.

"Hello, welcome to Panda, would you like to try a sample?" the employee behind the counter greets us as usual, and I step forward to handle the situation, since Lily is unfamiliar with it, I'd imagine.

"Yes, uh, could you let her try the orange chicken?" I ask, and the employee sticks a toothpick in a piece of orange chicken and hands it to me, and I give it to Lily. "Here, it's a sample. Try it."

Lily slowly closes her lips over the piece of orange chicken, and sure enough, her eyes brighten up, and she starts cradling her right cheek with her hand and closes her eyes as she chews to savor the tasty chicken. And sure enough, as I feared, lily flowers begin to spring up around the floor on which she's standing.

"Lily, uh, your flowers, your flowers..." I remind her hastily, and Lily snaps out of her foodgasm trance too, hurriedly looking around at the floor at her feet, hastily stooping down to gather the flowers up while I turn to the employee and put in our orders for everyone. Once we get our food in plastic bags, I give the girls their own orders and take them over to a designated rest area, where there are tables and chairs and couches, even, for public use for the supermarket customers.

"Mmmnn..." Lily remarks while chewing, swallowing her mouthful of food first before resuming. "Food in this day and age...from homemade to restaurant-made, I'm so glad that I was summoned into this era..."

"You really love food, huh," I make an obvious remark, as if I couldn't tell that food is one of Lily's passions.

"Yes! It always has been," she smiles brightly back, but when I look back up at her from my food, her smile's faded somewhat. "Because...during my travels with Kay and Merlin, I...good food was not always easy to find. And sometimes, even when we did have food, it was not always the best. Merlin always made sure that our needs were provided for in the end, but...admittedly, when it came to things like food, the quality that he found was...not always the greatest..."

"Sounds tough."

"A-Ah, but - but I like to think of that as part of my training to become King," Lily says quickly. "I think there's a saying in this era, 'what does not kill you makes you stronger'...?"

I smile at Lily.

"Well, now that you're with us, you don't need to worry about starvation as a tool of building character," I assure her.

As we eat, I sense people coming into the supermarket. This public rest area, which isn't that big to begin with, happens to sit right next to the two entrances into the supermarket, so it's very easy for me to pick up on people coming in and out, at least through this entrance. And sure enough, several groups of high school boys and girls, spaced out about a minute from each other, start heading inside, most likely to pick up their own lunches. Lily happens to be sitting on the side of our table that causes her to face the entrance, meaning that when those boys walk in, if they happen to glance to their right, they'll be able to feast their eyes on Lily.

And oh boy, do they do just that. One of the boys happens to glance right, and the first person he sees, I can tell, is Lily, and that's all it takes for the chain reaction to be set off.

"...Master?" Lily mumbles towards me, her plate about two-thirds eaten.

"...yeah, I know," I grumble back. Looking up from my own food discretely, I can easily see quite a number of kids looking our way, specifically at Lily. "You can feel them starin' at you?"

Lily nods uncomfortably.

"Yeah, sorry about that. That's why I mentioned that I wanted to get you some new clothes..."

"Ah, I see..."

"It also doesn't help that both of you are extremely attractive, according to modern standards..." I sigh a little bit. "You two're probably the best-lookin' girls these kids've seen in person all their lives."

"I-Is that so..." Matthew sounds more unsure than flattered. "I always thought that I was quite average..."

"Now that's just selling yourself short."

We finish up our food, tossing our garbage away in a nearby trash can. By that point, the boys have moved on, but now that school's out for the weekend for those who don't have sixth periods or beyond, I know that we'll encounter many more instances like this. But for now, I take the two of them over to the nearby clothing store, a TJ Max's, so that we can pick out a few clothes for Lily to wear for starters. I entrust the clothing picking to Matthew, since it'd be a little awkward for a guy like me to be helping a girl pick out clothes, so in the meantime, while those two are browsing through clothes to see what Lily likes, I stand by in the aisle, checking my email through the phone for anything work-related that might've come in after I've gotten off work. A few emails regarding shipment information coming in from Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai...but it's a chain email, and they aren't addressed to me specifically, so I don't have to respond to them.

After closing my email application, I hold my right hand over the screen of my phone and hold it there. A small blue rune appears briefly over it, and the screen warps to show me a top-down map of Tierra del Illamas and the adjacent towns of which I'm the Resident Guardian, as I've explained earlier to Lily in the morning. The map shows me about half a dozen locations that are denoted by green, yellow, or red runes situated over specific areas in the towns; most of them are green, but there's a yellow one down in Nelson, near one of the major intersections that sits right in the middle of the town. That means it's time for a little bit of tuning, so I make a mental note to myself to head down there sometime at night to tune that rune. I'm usually on top of making sure that my surveillance runes are in tip-top condition, but it's even more important, now that we're expecting an S-Class singularity to get dropped right on top of us at any moment.

I exit out of my magical map, but before I can click the power button to turn off the screen and pocket the phone, my phone buzzes with vibration, indicating that I've gotten some kind of text message or email, and the icon on the top of the screen shows that I've gotten an email just now, so I bite and check it, pulling my email app back up. It's an email from Dr. Archaman - and when he sends emails, it's always something important. So I open it up and read it.

 _We've received notification from Mash that you need more saint quartz for another summoning, and we've sent them by international priority mail. Look for it to arrive within a day. -Roman_

I guess Matthew pulled through in the end, after all. But then again, that begs the question - did Dr. Archaman send that by nabbing them from Da Vinci, or did he legitimately convince Olga to cough up more? I guess I'll have something to ask him once I pay another visit to Chaldea.


	8. How To Spoil a King

"Ta-da! Senpai, please take a look!"

I turn around, having accompanied the two girls over to the changing room and waited for Lily to get changed while watching a streamer play some Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, and hearing Matthew announce their exit, I quickly turn off my Twitch application and pocket the phone again to pay attention.

"L-Lady Matthew, please, you - you don't have to..."

Lily is standing outside the changing room dressed now in a pale blue and white plaid sleeveless dress, with a yellow hoodie jacket that's about a size or two bigger than it probably should be. She still has on the black ribbon that's holding up her hair, though.

The moment she notices my eyes run up and down her body, Lily becomes terribly self-conscious and lowers her gaze all the way down to her feet, making sure that her bangs will hide her face and eyes.

"Pretty good," I nod, "but Lily's the type 'a girl who'd look good in just about anything, really."

"Which was why it was hard for me to pick out clothes for her," Matthew explains. "Ultimately, though, I do think this is the best we could do here. Admittedly this store didn't seem to have the widest selection of clothes available..."

"Yeah, it's just a small clothing store, after all. We can take a visit down to another mall down in Nelson, that place's pretty huge. Maybe next weekend or somethin'."

"Um, Senpai, you don't mind if I picked out another outfit for her?" Matthew asks, raising up another small pile of neatly folded clothes. "These are for everyday wear around the house, or another set of casual clothes."

"That's fine, Lily can choose her own outfit that way. Is that all you'll be getting?"

"Um...unless Miss Lily wants to buy more clothes..."

"N-No, I - I'm very happy with all of this," Lily speaks up quickly. "Clothes must be...very expensive, yes? I really don't think that it is right for my Master to invest so much into...into peripheral equipment like this..."

"Well, I _do_ think that it's important for you to have extra clothes so that if you'd like, you can go out in public anytime you want," I reason. "So it's not just peripheral, I'd say it's pretty important."

Hearing this, Lily starts to fidget a little uncomfortably again.

"...you are really far too kind, Master. Food I can understand, but...even things such as clothes...you are willing to buy for me..." She actually starts looking disheartened. "I'm just an...a knight in training. Am I really worth this kind of money, I wonder..."

I give Lily a bit of a shrug. "Well...of course you are," I say easily. "You're my Servant, right? I'd like to think that Masters are obligated to look after their Servants? Or am I wrong about that?"

"Well, there _are_ Servants who tend to act independently of their Masters, based on their abilities or, more than likely, simply based on their personalities," Matthew specifies. "And while some Servants are powerful enough and charismatic enough to command leverage in their relationships with their Masters, usually it is the Master who dictates the pace of the relationship they wish to have with their Servants."

"Oh, okay. Then I guess it's a good opportunity to tell you two that I'm the type 'a guy who feels obligated to take care of people livin' in the same house as me. I think it's just common courtesy for the owner of the house to take care of his guests," I say succinctly before holding my chin, thinking. "Wait, I think I've said that before..."

"But I have not yet proved myself worthy!" Lily asserts, putting her hand on her chest rather passionately. "P-Perhaps...perhaps basic living quarters and daily sustenance is acceptable, but...to be...to be treated so generously like this, even before we have engaged in our first battle together..." Lily resumes her uncertain, somewhat melancholic demeanor. "...I don't think this is how I can become a good King..."

I smile down at Lily. It goes without saying, but Lily really is a sweet girl.

"Well, I'm not too concerned with your whole tryin' to become a good king, personally, so I do apologize if you think that I'm spoiling and pampering you," I tell Lily. "But as your Master, I do insist that I be able to take care of whatever needs I think you have, even if it does mean that I am treating you with what you believe is unwarranted generosity. You could even call it a bad habit of mine."

"A bad habit? Of spoiling people?" Matthew giggles a little.

"I personally don't think there's anything particularly wrong with treating people you like well."

"But now, if you're starting to say that, I think I'm also starting to agree with Miss Lily," Matthew says in Lily's defense now. "We've only known each other for two days, yet you're treating us like we've known each other all our lives, or at least a very long period of time."

"What, so you're saying that I should be actin' more suspicious of you two?"

"Well, not _suspicious,_ but...generally speaking, most people who've only known each other for days wouldn't go buying clothes for each other." Matthew leans in towards me suddenly and swiftly. "Unless...Senpai, do you _like_ Miss Lily?"

"I do," I nod firmly, not even batting an eyelash and responding with the _quickness._ "I think she's very cute, and she deserves all the pampering. But since she says that she's trying to train to become a strong knight, I'll have to hold myself back."

"Oh..." Somehow, Matthew sounds a little disappointed as she pulls away. "You just think she's cute, not as in, you _like_ her."

"Falling in love with someone I just met two days ago is a little bit tough, even for me," I admit, glancing down at Lily, who's hiding her face in her hands. "What's wrong, Lily?"

"N-Nothing, M...Master..." she mumbles through her hands. "I just...I'm not sure how I feel about...being called cute..."

"Ah, sorry, my bad. As an apology, let's go get ice cream - there's an ice cream shop right across this street outside," I compromise.

"You're spoiling her _still_ , Senpai," Matthew pouts a little while giving Lily a calm-down hug.

"But it's _food_ , according to her, it's not _spoiling_ because I'm getting her something to eat."

"But ice cream isn't like, _essential_ food...!"

I just give Matthew a bemused thumbs-up before turning and leading the girls to the cashier to buy Lily's new clothes. Once the purchases are made, I lead Matthew and Lily across the street, like I promised, over to a Baskin Robin's shop literally on the next corner over.

"Do you know of ice cream, Lily?" I ask her, holding the bags that contain the rest of Lily's casual clothes as we stand in front of the counter.

"Ice...cream...?" Lily asks, looking into the counter through the glass, down at the colorful flavors of ice cream sitting in their buckets. "Is this...'ice cream'...?"

"Yep. It's a dessert kind of food, very sweet and cold. You should try some."

"Oh...okay..."

The employee standing behind the counter waiting to serve us smiles my way, nodding her head.

"She from England?" she asks politely, and I nod back.

"I think we'll be awhile," I tell her, and she nods back too.

"No problem, take your time."

So I guide Lily through the flavors briefly, and eventually she settles on my recommendation, cookies and cream and coffee ice cream in a cup. I buy a double scoop of vanilla and orange sherbet for Matthew, and for myself, I get a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of rainbow sherbet in a cup, two distinct flavors that I can alternate between to keep either taste fresh. Once all the ice cream is bought, we pile outside the Baskin Robins, and Lily, having taken a small bite of her cookies and cream ice cream, gasps softly and shudders giddily.

"Th-This 'ice cream' is...is...is amazing...!" Lily cries softly, wanting to exclaim with excitement but not wanting to make a commotion. "Oh, my word - the foods of this modern era...if only we had foods like this in my own time...such a rich texture and flavor..."

Turning to me swiftly, Lily smiles her biggest smile yet up at me.

"Master, um...I know that...just earlier, I may have objected to accepting your generosity when it came to things like clothes..." she says shyly, "but...if it is alright with you, if it is anything food-related, I will always be ready to accept your generosity."

"You just really like food, huh."

"Ehehehe..."

As we enjoy our ice cream and go window-shopping for a bit, exploring more of the strip mall around the area, I walk more closely to Matthew and hold up my phone to her, showing her the email I got from Dr. Archaman.

"Looks like they received your request for more quartz," I inform my underclassman, even though she's not my underclassman at all. "It should be getting here by tomorrow via international priority mail."

"That's great news! You can summon one more time, hopefully before the singularity begins," Matthew's face brightens up, nodding emphatically with the good news.

"You think Dr. Archaman pulled the quartz outta his own pocket to send to us? Or do you think Olga was the one who sent it?"

"Seeing how quickly we received a response, and due to the fact that Dr. Archaman was the one who responded, I would say that he is the one supplying us with this new set of quartz."

"Yeah, I figured."

"How did you figure it, Senpai?"

"Because if I remember what Olga'd do in a situation like this correctly, she'd either just forget about it completely after getting your notice and dump it in the trash somewhere, or if we're lucky, she'd actually give a rat's ass about and send us maybe a handful of extra quarts, but definitely not another whole batch like the one Dr. Archaman's promising."

Matthew can only offer a small smile back at me as we continue to walk through the strip mall.

"Other than that, how are you likin' it so far here?" I ask Matthew. "I know it might be a bit too early to be surveying you about your thoughts on this town, but I do care about what you think."

"Well, it just...goes without saying that...I really am enjoying my time here," Matthew smiles quite beautifully. "You're making me forget that this is supposed to be my job. I'm even starting to feel like I shouldn't...I shouldn't necessarily be getting paid for this. Not that...I was being paid much to begin with."

I chortle sarcastically. "Yeah...I've seen those figures on the Chaldean payroll. It ain't much...so you can think 'a this as a temporary pay raise."

Matthew giggles along with me a little awkwardly. "Pay raise, you say?"

"Yeah. Either that, or a temporary period of having a ton of job benefits. Free food, a free chef, nice weather..." My expression darkens a little bit. "...at least, all that until shit hits the fan when the singularity shows up."

"Yes...that's what I'm also...a little bit scared of," Matthew nods slowly. "Because of the scale of the projected singularity, it is very likely that much of the towns affected will be destroyed. Normally I can perform some form of reconstructive process to restore the singularity area to how it was before, but...an S-Class's prsence is...too strong to be reversed..."

Matthew trails off briefly before picking herself back up.

"This town is very nice, Senpai. And with how well you've been treating us, I feel that much more motivated to do my best to ensure that nothing befalls this place, as it is your town of residence, after all. I'm just...not sure if I'm strong enough to be able to stop it from wreaking its havoc. I'm not sure if all of us together will be strong enough to do that."

"We'll see."

I can sense Matthew glancing up at me. "Even the toughest of mages can have trouble with the power that S-Class singularities produce," she tells me. "I know that you do have experience dealing with singularities from before, according to Miss Olga, but..."

"I _have_ made preparations for it, but like I said, we'll see just how strong it is, and how well I can figure out how to deal with it," I repeat. "It'd be best if this singularity was the pseudo-reality marble type, where it replaces this current world with an artificial one that it creates by surfacing. That way, the current world would still be intact, provided that we defuse the singularity in time before its artificial world starts replacing the reality of this one."

"But if it is like that, then it would be significantly more powerful..." Matthew worries.

"Maybe so, but that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"I'm...not so sure..."

We pass by the Petco, where Lily catches wind of the rabbit display that the store's got going on as a limited time sale and starts going _squee!_ over them, almost expectedly, so we head inside the Petco to let Lily examine the cute bunnies. I even ask one of the Petco employees if it's alright for Lily to hold one, and to my enormous surprise, they were kind enough to let her do just that, so Lily almost passes out from cuteness overload as the employee I ask for assistance gingerly picks up an adult rabbit who's used to being picked up and shown to visitors and sets it in Lily's arms, and Lily, trying her best to contain her massive hype so that she won't scare the bunny, cradles it and nuzzles it, even giving it a kiss here and there when the rabbit sniffs at her face to figure out the new customer.

While letting Matthew and Lily spend some time with their rabbit, I ponder the brief conversation I've just had with Matthew. All the singularities and magical incidents I've dealt with, I was able to restore the surrounding areas easily and without a problem. One of the reasons why I'm not particularly annoyed with Olga when I think I otherwise should be is the fact that this is a large-scale singularity, so it'll provide me with plenty of opportunities that smaller-scale incidents just can't physically offer. After all, it's just like an RPG: you can beat the crap out of all the easy enemies you want, but that's not what's going to help you level up faster or improve your skills. You need something that'll push you, something that'll compel you to get better. It's a few steps shy of outright Darwinism, where only the fittest survive, but it's something along that line - if there's no challenge, there's no room for improvement. And there's _always_ room for improvement. For humans, at least.

But what's starting to creep up in the back of my head is the exact, precise location of the singularity. I have yet to detect any semblance of a magic disturbance anywhere; the surveillance runes I've got set up throughout my territories haven't detected anything out of the ordinary, and it's not like I've been told to expect the singularity to show up in a particular spot, neither from Matthew and nor from Olga. I guess if I were to email Dr. Archaman or Da Vinci, maybe they'd know, but given that I don't know them very well, and they're already helping us out by sending us another batch of quartz, I'm not sure if it's within my jurisdiction to ask of them yet another favor. That's why I told Lily earlier today that it's better for us to stick together and have the singularity happen on its own so that we can react to it and investigate it together; if, on the other hand, I had a general understanding of the possible location or locations where the singularity would first develop, I'd've been more open to Lily's suggestion of having her and Matthew go on patrol. But since the singularity could literally pop up anywhere in any of the four cities that I'm in charge of as Resident Guardian, there are just way too many places to assume that it could show up in, and by that point it'd be no different from trying to pick out the winning numbers in the California State Lottery, minus the money you'd get for winning, assuming you did actually win something that wasn't eaten up entirely by taxes.

After a while, Lily hands the bunny back to the employee, though she looks supremely reluctant to part with it. Even still, she toddles back over to me with Matthew in tow, still riding the cuteness high after holding that bunny.

"I-It would be a little much to ask for a pet bunny, right, Master?" Lily asks hopefully, and I shake my head with an awkward smile.

"I'm not sure if we can take care of a pet, let alone a rabbit..."

"Aw..." Lily hangs her head a little, but as bummed out as she is, she knows that buying a bunny would be an obligation that would burden us all.

"Oh, and Lily, when we're out and about, try not to call me 'Master', since that'll sound really weird to other people if they overhear us," I ask Lily. "Just call me August."

"E-Eh...is...is that alright...?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I would actually prefer that we be on a first-name basis, but out in public, I'd have to enforce it, since...people might get the wrong idea about us if they keep hearing you following me around calling me 'Master'..."

Lily genuinely looks confused. "...but what is so wrong with that?" she asks with teeth-rottingly pure innocence.

* * *

Nightfall again. It's about ten hours since our lunchtime outing, and as promised, I'm standing on the grass field with Lily in her full battle gear, with Matthew also in her Demi-Servant form spectating the two of us.

"Don't overexert yourself," I call over to Lily. "Remember that we've still gotta head down to one of my runes so that I can tune it for maintenance; you never know if we might run into something along the way."

"Yes, Master!" Lily hollers over, gripping Caliburn tightly as she readies her stance to attack.

"Will you be alright, Senpai?" Matthew also hollers over off to my right.

"We aren't going all-out, if that's what you're asking, so yeah, I think I'll be okay!"

Lily then charges forward, her sword lifted up high over her head for a strike already, and watching her hands and her sword to gauge how strongly she's going to swing the blade, I stand my ground, raise my left arm up over my head, and concentrate on the point of contact that her sword will hit my arm so that when Lily's Caliburn strikes where I predict that it will, a blue rune ripples audibly in the air between her sword and my arm, and the repulsion effect of the rippling rune pushes back Lily's sword, taking her by surprise as she's forced to readjust her loosened grip on her weapon.

Even though I can easily riposte after this parry, I hold back, since this is only a spar, not an actual fight to the death, allowing Lily time to recover and strike again. Rather than a proper sword swing, she lunges in and attempts a quick hit with the bottom of her sword handle, but I sidestep and jam by left elbow into the side of Lily's armor; I do have to put more energy behind this elbow jab so that I can push Lily in all her armor away far enough to make me safe from her Caliburn's reach, but her armor will protect her from the actual physical blow of my elbow in the meantime. Lily immediately stomps down to halt herself and lunges back in, unrelenting and making sure to keep up the pressure, this time throwing out an uppercut swing from her sword at me, which I also dodge by leaping off to the side and rolling across my shoulders to break my fall and get up quickly.

"Yaaaa!"

Lily tracks my movement expertly and lunges at me again, this time with her sword already raised over her head for an overhead blow, and I'm forced to dodge again, leaping backwards this time and having to perform a handstand leap to get back onto my feet.

Then, Lily herself takes a huge leap straight up into the air, clearing what's got to be at least forty meters into the dark night sky that I've illuminated with runes that give the otherwise dark grass field a luminescent blue hue to attack me with a falling strike.

Rather than dodge, I decide to hold position instead and meet Caliburn straight-on - while praying that Lily doesn't accidentally cut me in half. Normally I wouldn't take the risk, but because I can safely presume that Lily isn't trying to actively kill her own Master, and because we're sparring for the sake of honing Lily's combat skills, I meet Caliburn with my right arm over my head, and a shield rune expands the moment Caliburn gets swung on top of me. Pain jolts through my right arm as my shield rune shakes and buzzes dangerously, Caliburn's golden aura clearly more than a match for my own puny human power.

Quickly pulling back Caliburn, Lily proceeds to bombard me with swings, rapidly laying them down one after another in an attempt to break through my defense, which I keep up with constant blocks and parries with my shield runes. Her soft green eyes that are normally quite demure and easy on the eyes, no pun intended, are intense and focused, with the intention of making the most out of this spar, and Caliburn continues its airborne assault, smashing against my spontaneously created shield runes that spark with golden shards of magic aura that fly all around me. The constant attacking will eventually wear me down and open me up to a hit, so I counterattack, repulsing a particularly strong sword swing from Lily to cause her to stumble back a little from the counter-force, and I take advantage by putting in a free front kick against her sturdy chest armor that accomplishes nothing aside from pushing her back a little to put some distance between the two of us.

"Sorry if this isn't enough to get you up to par," I call over at Lily, who lowers her sword when she hears me calling out to her. "I'm sure that if we had another sword user, you'd get a lot more out of this training. All I can really do is defend against your attacks."

But Lily shakes her head. "No, not at all, this is very good training!" she calls back enthusiastically. "You have very sharp reactions and can see the holes in my attacks, and you've punished me for several of them. I'm learning where to work on my offense, thanks to you, Master!"

I nod, glad that she's getting some use out of this.

"Then I'll try attacking you this time," I alert her. "Ready?"


	9. Master and Servant

I raise my hand up in the same gun-like motion as I'd done to Matthew the other night, swiftly snapping my aim at Lily. In response, Lily bends her knees a little, lowering her profile somewhat and assuming defensive stance with Caliburn.

But instead of firing off my Reigun at her, I raise my hand straight up into the air, like an umpire of a hundred-meter dash raising the start gun, and fire it like that.

I watch Lily's face contort in surprise as she quickly snaps her gaze up into the air, watching the colorless energy bullet soar high into the air before air-bursting itself into multiple vectors of smaller but faster energy bullets that then swerve hard back down to the earth, gunning straight for Lily. With her attention so adamantly fixed on the Reigun bullets I've fired off, it's almost pitifully easy to tell that Lily isn't paying attention to her front at all. And although I do feel a little bad doing this, Lily wants this to serve as her training, so I'd be doing her a disservice if I didn't help her train her defense and how to cover as many angles of attack as possible.

Lowering my own profile and hunching my back slightly, I quickly burst off the ground into a rapid sprint towards Lily. The distance between us isn't that far - one of the things that our old cross-country coach taught us back in high school was that the human body has, at any given point, enough energy stocked up to let you sprint for around an average of seven seconds. Not a jog, not a brisk run, but a full-on, all-out sprint. And Lily is definitely within a seven-second sprint. Lily starts to panic; seeing me rush at her like this while the energy bullets I've launched into the air to attack her from above at the same time is throwing her for a big ol' loop, and as I'm sprinting towards her, I keep my eyes focused on Lily to see how she's going to react to a situation like this where she might not be able to defend herself from all the attacks coming at her.

Lily chooses to dodge. It seems that she knows that it won't be a good idea for her to try to stand her ground against two completely different angles of attack at once, so her response is to reposition herself so that she can hopefully dodge the air bullets coming down on her and then deal with the threat that I myself present to her. So as a result, Lily bursts off the ground herself and skids hard against the grass, timing her escape just before I can reach her to attack her with a running dash punch, and the energy bullets then crash into the ground, kicking up a few gusts of strong but brief winds that come out as a result of the nonlethal energy I've packed into them.

But I don't relent; the moment I see Lily dash away, I track her, swiftly kicking off the ground with my right foot to follow her location; a rune forms where I kick off the ground so that I can change the trajectory of my movement on a dime; this movement isn't normally possible with natural laws of physics with the kind of speed that I'd hit by sprinting at Lily, and Lily herself is even more shocked at the sight of me changing course so suddenly like this, and with her armor and her sword that surely must be quite heavy, even if she _is_ the future King of Britain, Lily stands her ground this time, raising her sword in another defensive stance to meet my attacks.

My right fist, emanating with a set of two small runes, one around my wrist and one in front of my knuckles, makes contact with Lily's blade that she turns to me, flat side towards me to cover the most amount of space before her as possible. The runes are there since I don't know what kind of magic is applied to Caliburn; as far as I know, this legendary sword could be capable of anything, and if King Arthur can be a girl in this universe, then what's stopping King Arthur's sword from being some kind of weapon of mass destruction? And so the runes will prevent my bare fist from physically making contact with the sword, but still allow the kinetic energy from my punch to transfer past into the sword.

But the moment my fist hits Caliburn, the sword flashes gold like the flash from a camera going off, and I can feel my fist get blown back violently, so much so that if it weren't for my forward running momentum, I most definitely would've gotten swept backwards off my feet. But I still keep my eyes on Lily, my opponent, and Lily is surprised at just how strong my punch was, given the fact that she's reeled hard from it and is only now recovering from the hit stun, whereas I'm already lunging at her, this time with a quick thrust of my right elbow, pulling my hand back over my left shoulder to then jam it against Lily's cheek. Had this been a real fight and not one for the sake of training, I would be aiming at one of her eyes instead.

Once again, Lily pulls her sword up to block, but this time, now that I'm familiar with the pushback defense mechanism on Caliburn, I brace for it as I collide my elbow against the flat surface of her sword a second time. The pushback hits me, but I lean forward significantly and push most of my weight forward to counteract it so that I stick as close to Lily as possible. However, Lily, too, is adapting to my offense, and now that she knows just how strong my physical attacks can be, she blocks it more adequately this time and stands her ground, keeping her eyes locked back onto me to watch for another possible follow-up attack.

The fact that I'm not relying on any heavy weapons to keep up my offensive pressure aids me greatly in keeping up said pressure, and even though Lily does recover much faster from my elbow strike, I recover even faster, and my left fist that I'm throwing forward to punch her in the chin forces her to maintain the defensive. Now that I know that Lily's quickly getting better at defending against my blows, I ramp up the speed of my punches, and just as she blocks my left chin punch, I start alternating, throwing rapid fisticuffs one after another with the other hand each time; every time my knuckles, protected by my runes, make contact with Caliburn, it sounds like a small firecracker going off during pre-Fourth of July celebrations. Eventually, the rate at which I'm throwing out punches at Lily overtakes the rate at which she's trying to learn how best to block my oncoming attacks, and it gets to the point where the force of my punches are starting to chisel Lily's grip on her sword, little by little. At this rate, I'm straight up going to punch Caliburn right out of her hands if she doesn't do something about my unrelenting offense soon.

And so she does: after one particularly strong punch that I aim for her right shoulder, just before I'm about to throw out another left hook punch, Lily quickly pulls Caliburn towards her chest, and the sword blade glows rapidly gold. I sense an alarming energy surge beginning to generate from within her, like a bomb with an unbelievably short fuse - the amount of energy her body's creating at this moment is unfathomable; at that amount, if Lily were to release that energy within a crowd of ordinary people, she could instantly kill that entire crowd if she wanted to, though given her personality, I'm sure she wouldn't want that. Still, I'm just an ordinary human myself - meaning that my next choice of action is very clear.

Just before she bursts her mana, I halt quickly mid-punch lunge and kick off the ground as hard as I can to send myself flying backwards, and just after I do, Lily lets out a powerful shout while gripping Caliburn by the handle with both hands, sword blade pointed straight up towards the heavens.

 _ **"HA!"**_

A violent invisible explosion of wind and air pummels the grass all around Lily in a perfect three-meter radius, and it blasts up dirt and grass from around her feet and sends it all flying in all directions about her. The shockwave of energy extends much further than that, and it hits me mid-jump and propels me much faster than I want to be traveling, causing me to skid off the bottom of my shoe and tumble backwards, and I grunt painfully as I feel the back of my head crash straight down against the grass before I tumble a few more times and slide back upright, though I do hold onto my cap that I'm wearing to make sure it doesn't fall off; even if I didn't hold onto it manually, I've got a rune that keeps both my cap and my glasses on my head and face for times just like this.

"Senpai, are you all right?!" Matthew hollers over, and I can hear her voice getting closer, a sign that she's in the middle of hurrying over to me to protect me if need be.

"I'm fine, don't worry," I call back over, but I still keep my eyes focused on Lily, who's now readying her stance again with Caliburn. "You doin' alright there, Lily?"

"Yes!" Lily says strongly, like she's been invigorated by that burst of mana she's just released, which isn't _normal_ , to say the least - committing to a controlled explosion of mana like that, especially mana of that kind of packed density, obviously drains a normal mana-wielding individual of much of their energy supply. But Lily seems completely fine, even after something like that. I suppose she _is_ the future King Arthur, after all. I just wonder where she's getting all that magic energy from, because something like that, I doubt many other Servants like her will have. Well, I could be wrong about that - Heroic Spirits are supposed to be very powerful, after all, but...we'll see. Assuming I get lucky enough to pull more Servants from that dumb FATE system or whatever, but that's a concern for a later time. "Master, if you are so kind as to grant me some additional time, I would like to continue this fight!"

"Whatever you'd like," I call back, and I raise my finger straight at Lily, simply pointing normally at her instead of pointing at her with a finger gun. "Let's go!"

I produce a rune that's about the same surface area as my dinner table - about four meters in diameter, and red hardpoints bubble in over a dozen locations within the rune before beginning to fire off horizontal lasers of energy towards Lily. Lily bursts off the ground on which she stands just as she sees me manufacture this attack rune, and once she's about halfway across the grass field towards me, I terminate the rune and kick off the ground into a sprint back towards her too to meet her in the middle of the field.

Lily meets me first with a powerful diagonal uppercut slash that I barely avoid by braking hard against the grass to stop myself from simply running straight into her attack and getting cut in half like a pair of scissors cutting through paper. Lily, moving much more quickly than any teenage girl like her is supposed to be able while wearing heavy armor and holding a sword that's bigger than her arms, snaps her wrists around on her sword handle to adjust her grip rapidly and immediately slashes back down at me, and when I lower my profile and raise my arm up to ward against the blow, Caliburn crashes down against my upraised arm and completely shatters the protective rune, but the failsafe blowback mechanism I've put into these protective runes thankfully causes Caliburn to burn its momentum and hang in the air for a moment, allowing me to backdash, gripping my forearm in pain, as the rune that just got destroyed I had tied to my forearm as its anchor point, meaning that with its destruction, the nerves inside my right forearm are the ones that take the brunt of the pain, and they're currently making my arm throb like a motherfucker.

Alarmed at the sight of me in actual pain, even though I didn't really make any noise that would signify that I'm injured, Lily immediately lowers her sword, looking scared at the possibility that she's ended up hurting me.

"M-Master! Did you - are you hurt?!" she cries out, but I shake my head as fast as I can.

"I'm good, you don't need to worry about me. You're not gonna tell the next person you fight if they're alright if you hit 'em, are you?"

"But - but I don't w - "

I interrupt Lily by pointing another finger gun at her, and she immediately assumes a defensive stance again right before I blast her point-blank with another Reigun shot. Lily narrows her eyes to the point of squinting, but she makes sure to keep them open so that she can see what I'm doing at all times. And after blasting her, I lunge at her, committing more mana into my protective runes so that they don't get shattered _as_ easily, though I don't know just how easily Caliburn will still be able to get rid of them. Lily raises her blade up defensively again, but this time, rather than a straightforward punch, I ball my fists together and slam down against Caliburn with a powerful hammerhead blow, and with a lot of power packed into this hit, I meet Lily's raised weapon with the bottoms of my combined palms.

To Lily's shock, my hammerhead strike blasts Caliburn straight down and slams it across her face, and she reels violently backwards, gripping at her face in more surprise than pain, but she tries her best to recover and deal with the pain so that she can keep tracking me. Normally I would take full advantage of Lily's vulnerability to tack on as much damage as I can, but again, this is only a training fight, so there's no point in whaling on her...even if it's really hard for a normal human like me to actually end up hurting a Heroic Spirit like Lily.

Once Lily's able to look around for herself, I get back on the move. Concentrating hard on my feet and ankles, I produce movement runes that allow me to push off the ground so hard that to the normal human eye, it looks like I've teleported - even though that's just an optical illusion, because in reality I'm not going _that_ fast, just fast enough for me to reposition myself quickly without letting my opponent have a chance to react to what I'm doing. Grinding against the grass hard on my foot, with another protective rune to help my right ankle brake so that I don't tear my entire ankle in half from the momentum, I throw another punch at Lily, this time aimed at her left shoulder, and even though Lily didn't see me move to her side, she somehow tracks me anyway and barely pulls Caliburn to her left in time to block my hit; the fact that I've purposely put less strength into my punch also means that she's able to recover quickly so that she can act against my next attack.

But I start mixing it up on her: rather than another punch, I put my right foot back to anchor myself down against the ground, then left up my left foot high up into the air to perform a sideways axe kick. If this were a real axe kick aimed to inflict damage, I'd aim my foot down against Lily's head, since she's actually short enough for my foot to reach at its height, but I don't bother and instead slam my foot down against the ground instead right in front of her, detonating the axe kick with my own infusion of mana. If Lily's mana burst from earlier was akin to a grenade explosion, then mine is nothing more than a water balloon splash, so imagine my surprise when I find Lily tripping over the small shockwave of energy that my axe kick produces against the grass field right at her feet. The only reason I can think of why Lily got tripped over something like that is because she didn't expect something like that to happen at all; after all, all the attacks I'd ever thrown at her were rune lasers and hard punches.

I back up again to let Lily get back up on her feet, and she does quickly, scrambling up, already a little red in the face in embarrassment at falling flat on the ground against her face, but seeing my own face that's still focused and not finding her little trip funny sobers her up fast. But when she waits for me to do something, I don't - I want her to attack me, since I've been attacking her for the most part for this fight. However, she doesn't get the memo, so for like a minute, we just stand there, staring at each other while spaced apart like a handful of meters, both assuming defensive stances. It's only when I tell her physically,

"Come at me,"

that she understands and swiftly lunges to swing Caliburn back at me.

Now that I've gotten a good feel for how strong Lily's swings are on average, combined with the magic power of Caliburn at this state, I tune my protection runes accordingly in preparation for Lily's next attack, and when it hits, aimed for my left side, I block it strongly with a stronger rune this time, one that's adequately adjusted to defend against Lily's attack. Of course, this means that I'm committing much more mana to my defense, which isn't usually my style, but for the sake of helping Lily make the most out of this little training session, I bear with it. After four or so sword swings against me, I start fighting back passively by countering her swings with stronger blocks, ones that involve me actively shoving back against her sword swings in retaliation, so in turn, Lily puts more and more power behind her swings.

We trade blows back and forth, back and forth. Sweat is dripping in visible streaks off my brow, and I can plainly see that Lily's scalp is popping with bits of sweat as well, even for a Heroic Spirit such as herself. I can feel the lactic acid building up steadily in my body, primarily in my arms but also some in my legs too, since I'm putting pressure on my legs to help me anchor myself against the ground so that Lily's Caliburn doesn't send me flying at any point from a single swing. After about a minute of nothing but trading attacks, our flurry of attacks on each other get to the point where we're practically throwing mana around: Lily's Caliburn is burning off gold aura with each sword swing as her control over her own energy begins to falter and loosen, but that doesn't stop her from keeping up the onslaught of heavy sword swings, and for my part, I'm finding myself breathing harder and harder while I can also feel my clothes starting to moisten and stick to my body from the sweat I'm generating all over. Maybe it would've been better if I'd've taken my jacket and hat off first. It's like a tennis match that Lily and I are engaged in: two tennis players hitting the ball back and forth with ferocious, tremendous power, with neither player missing a beat and unwilling to back down.

Our trades continue on for another minute; the longer the seconds drag on, the exponentially worse the lactic acid buildup in my muscles get, and my arms are screaming at me to get me to slow down or disengage so that I can let my body recover, but I refuse to listen and block yet another sharp sword jab that Lily aims for my chest, which I parry downwards at an angle towards the grass so that the tip doesn't accidentally pierce my stomach instead. I've been through this; I know what the feeling of fighting to the point where my body wants to collapse feels like.

Finally, Lily lets out a desperate yell, with sweat dripping off her own chin, pulls back Caliburn over her head, and it starts to glow gold strongly. I detect another ungodly surge of mana emitting from the sword - from both the sword _and_ Lily, actually - and knowing what this is about, I disengage _now_ , since I don't want to end up in ludicrous gibs all over the grass.

 _ **"Hyaaaaa!"**_ Lily shouts, and her voice sounds surprisingly guttural, coming all the way down from her diaphragm rather than just her throat.

And when she drops her sword down, Lily blasts off a wave of golden energy that ricochets fast towards me, firing off the blade of Caliburn with her downwards swing. Even though I've already backed the hell off from her, the blast travels so fast that I still have to react on a dime to get out of its way, and I do so by lunging my whole body to my right on instinct in a combat roll, pretty much like those combat rolls you see in action movies and stuff like that. As I roll back up to my feet, I hear a massive explosion rock the earth somewhere behind me, though I don't turn around to marvel at it, in case Lily gets the idea of throwing another one of those things out at me. God knows what'll happen if I get hit by one of _those_.

I take another glance at Lily's face to make eye contact with her, and she's readying Caliburn again, facing me as I kneel on the grass, letting my body recover while I have the chance before my body just breaks down in protest over me working it so hard. I notice that Lily's green eyes have a supernatural gold silhouette brimming around the outlines of her pupils, not unlike the white light that can be seen around the sun during a solar eclipse. That, and her whole body's silhouette itself is glowing gold slightly. That means that her body is nonstop generating immense quantities of mana, so much of it that her body doesn't know how to process it all and has to release it out of her body's orifices, mainly sweat pores, I'd imagine, so that her body doesn't accumulate a dangerous level of mana within itself to the point where Lily can't physically contain it all. Heroic Spirits sure are somethin' else, aren't they.

But just as Lily is about to kick off the ground again to attack, a third voice that we've apparently forgotten about calls out suddenly:

"Um, I-I think that's enough for tonight, don't you think...!?"

The two of us turn towards Matthew, and we find her standing on her toes, clearly very alarmed at the fight that the two of us were having. I suppose to a bystander, our little training session didn't seem like _just_ a training session.

"Yeah, let's call it there," I holler over to Lily, wiping my brow in the process. "We're here for the summoning, and I don't want us to wreck this place, so..."

"Ah!" Lily only now snaps out of her battle adrenaline when I mention blowing the park up, and she quickly eyes the smoldering crater that she's made with that sword blast that she's fired off with Caliburn. "I-I'm - I'm so sorry about that! I - I just...I just did that on instinct..."

"That's fine," I reassure her as she hurries up to me, carrying Caliburn that's since shed its golden aura by her side, meeting me at the smoldering crater that she's made with her sword mana strike. I toss my hand out over the crater and produce a rune that covers its surface area, and putting some mana into it, the rune glows and slowly begins reconstructing that portion of the field back to how it was before.

"...thank goodness you can do this, Master," Lily murmurs, watching me fix the damages that we've left behind in the wake of our training. "I'm sure...I'm sure that the locals here would definitely be very sad if they found their park damaged just because we wanted to train..."

"Don't worry about it - as long as it's within my territories that I'm established over as Resident Guardian, I can fix up anything. I just need the mana for it..."

"I can't believe you have so much mana, Senpai," Matthew tells me, having heard the tail end of the conversation between me and Lily as she, too, joins us in her Demi-Servant gear. "For you to fight that long and hard against someone like Miss Lily, that's unbelievable. You're not a normal mage, are you?"

"Given the fact that I'm honestly a little isolated from other mages in my area, I hesitate to call myself 'normal', if only on the basis that I don't know what a 'normal' mage would do," I reply curtly. "Why, do normal mages go around casting spells all day? I guess that's what they _would_ do, huh..."

"Er, actually, that's...more or less the truth. Most mages focus on their spellcraft and magecraft, but...you, Senpai, you specialize in combat magic," Matthew analyzes.

"I'm guessin' that that's pretty unusual for mages?" I ask, judging by her tone of voice.

"Yes. Especially when you consider that most Masters have their Servants to do much of the heavy close-quarters fighting for them while they simply support their servants from the rear lines," Matthew explains further.

"So...what if a Master has a Caster as a servant? What then? Who's gonna do the heavy lifting?"

"Uhhh..." Even Matthew doesn't seem so sure. "I-I think that in that case, if the Master himself or herself isn't a melee specialist, then the two of them would have to rely on indirect methods of offense - traps, lures, that kind of stuff. Unless their magecraft is strong enough to the point where they can engage against melee specialists head to head."

"Hm."

"But...Master, you - you were so much more talented at fighting than I thought you'd be," Lily professes earnestly and honestly, and while her words initially come off as potentially sarcastic and belittling, I know that Lily isn't trying to mean it that way. "I was really surprised at the fact that you chose to attack me directly. Like Lady Matthew said, I was under the impression that most mages would try to fight their enemies with their spells, but you fought me as if you were also a warrior. And, um...I really do appreciate that. I love having a good fight against other warriors like that. Having to fight against...ranged opponents who keep pushing me away with distanced attacks is a little..." Lily doesn't finish her thought and instead makes a difficult smile.

"It's just how I learned to fight," I say back, fixing up the last bit of damage in the field that we've caused. "Matthew, set up that FATE thing again so we can put in another summon."

"Yes, right away, Senpai," Matthew nods quickly, and she sets down her big cross-shield on the grass and prepares FATE while I finish up setting the grass back in place, from the place where Lily first let off her mana burst. Lily watches me anxiously as I finish my work.

"...Master, Lady Matthew has already voiced this concern, but...are you sure that you are alright?" she asks me softly, making sure that Matthew can't hear. "You really did spend a lot of mana...and all for the sake of helping me train...you didn't need to fight so hard."

I smile quickly back at her. "Like I said, it's fine. I wouldn't go that hard if I couldn't."

"Um...?" Lily isn't quite familiar with the modern mannerisms of colloquial English, so I reiterate to make it easier for her to understand.

"I wouldn't fight that hard if I didn't know that I could fight that hard, in other words. I know what my limits are."

Lily slowly nods, though I can tell easily that she doesn't really believe me.

We then stack up on Matthew, who's got FATE up and running again, and she hands me the thirty Saint Quartz sent to us by the courteous Dr. Archaman.

"I've heard that people having luck stats is a common joke in the magic world," I mutter to Matthew as I take the Quartz from her. "Heard that from when I visited Chaldea. That true?"

"I-It's just gossip, please don't pay attention to things like that," Matthew stammers quickly back.

"Oh, so it's like a meme."

"M-Meme...? Wha...what's that...?"

"Never mind."

And so I set the Quartz on the hologram platform, and I let the FATE thing do its thing.

"I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that summoning servants is based on randomness," I shake my head, much to Matthew's chagrin as the platform begins to glow with bright, light blue light.

Nine flashes and three more of those weird Craft Essence cards later, the platform gears up to give us our final pop.

"Well, I look forward to working with you two as our team for this singularity," I snort sarcastically to the two girls next to me, but just as I finish, Matthew gasps and points frantically at the FATE platform.

"Look, look, Senpai!" she cries out excitedly, and Lily is also inhaling rather dramatically with excitement too. "See that? When the platform turns gold, it means you're about to summon a servant!"

Indeed, she's right - the rings of the summoning light are pre-emptively turning gold, something we haven't seen before. The tall pillar of light blue light belches up from the center of the platform, and as it shimmers away, a shining silhouette of another individual is left standing on the FATE platform, slowly but surely materializing into view. And there, once the shining, obscuring light fades away, there stands a young woman standing gallantly on the platform, with her eyes closed as her blonde bangs and hair flutter down from the light and energy emitted from her summoning platform.

She wears a large royal blue dress with gold borders and linings; her chest and abdomen have cut-outs, clothed instead by another white dress that fits snugly underneath the big blue one; overall it gives her the image of wearing some kind of ballroom dress or something, though the poofy shoulders that the blue dress offers her do go a long way to helping accentuate that royal look about her. She's pretty much the same height as Lily; she's also got the same shade of blonde hair, though in a different hairstyle, specifically a bun compared to Lily's ponytail, though they seem to share the same _ahoge_.

Wait a minute.

Why do they look exactly the same?

Lifting up her hand,, she sets something invisible, shrouded by a mysterious aqua-blue spiraling wisp of mana or energy before her like a sword as she slowly opens her eyes and looks down at me from up on the slightly elevated platform of FATE. Hey look, she's got green eyes just like Lily's. And when she opens her mouth, the first thing she says is:

"I ask of you now: are you my Master?"


	10. Hiding the Real Talent

I glance down at the back of my hand, and then raise it while turning it towards this new Servant so that she can see. Now that I think about it, even her voice is the same as Lily's, just more mature-sounding, lower-pitched, and with the same British accent.

"I suppose I am," I say, albeit a little dryly, since I'm not sure if I'm supposed to considering myself lucky or not for pulling a Servant on the very last summon...whatever those individual summoning circles are called. I'll just call them rolls, since, well, this is starting to seem somewhat like a lottery roll, or like playing roulette...without even being able to see red or black.

With a curt nod, this new Servant steps down from the platform, which shimmers away out of sight the moment she's off it, and stands before me gallantly. As gallantly as a girl who's exactly Lily's height...and thus a little over a _full foot_ shorter than myself. Despite this, I leave human judgments and first impressions out of the way and take a step towards her, a hand raised in an anticipatory handshake, though I do have to wonder if this new Servant who looks exactly like Lily understands the modern concept of handshakes. To my quiet relief, though, she does, and she returns it immediately with her armored hand that's fitted with a gauntlet, just like Lily's, except hers is thicker and stronger, as I can easily tell just from the strength of her handshake.

"I'm Augustus Il," I introduce myself to her, "but just August is fine too. I'll be your Master for the time being, and you've been summoned to help us deal with an imminent singularity that we are expecting to have in this area very soon."

"The pleasure is mine, Master. For what service and duty lies ahead, my sword shall always be by your side," she returns, strongly and confidently. She's got quite a kingly air about her, though the only way I'd know what a "kingly air" would feel like is from what TV shows and movies I've watched, so I could, for all I know, be quite mistaken, since Hollywood tends to fuck up historical accuracy in favor of mass entertainment.

I notice that she then slowly turns her eyes to her right, over to Lily next to me. I also follow her gaze, and it's then that I realize that Lily, for very obvious reasons, is looking tremendously confused and stumped, and when the new Servant glances over at her, she takes a subconscious step back, stepping a little closer to me. Why she feels the need to lean towards me for protection is something I'm not sure I can answer, because it's obvious that she possesses way more raw mana and strength than a puny human like me does.

"So...I've noticed you two have the same face..." I say after clearing my throat politely. "Are you, uh, twins or something? 'Cause, like, I don't recall that King Arthur had a twin...unless there's something to the legend that I don't remember reading about...or..."

"Nay, Master. We are not twins," my new Servant clad in blue armor shakes her head, facing me again. "We are the same person. It appears that you have also somehow managed to summon forth my past self...when I had first pulled my first sword from the Stone."

Same person?

"Then you're also...King Arthur," I narrow my eyes at my new Servant.

"That is correct, Master. I am known as King Arthur, or the King of Knights." Arthur sets her invisible sword (I'm presuming that it is indeed a sword, given the fact that she mentioned a sword just before) into the grass, and it stands on its own, but she holds it against the bottom of the handle with her palm to her side. "But, as it has come to my attention that the name 'Arthur' is a name that is traditionally used in a male connotation, you may also call me 'Artoria' if you wish."

How considerate of a king to cover such nomenclature in a modern-day setting. Maybe it's that whole FATE configuration kicking in that ensures that summoned Servants are familiar with modern-day mannerisms and whatnot.

But now that Artoria's introduced herself as essentially the future version of Lily, I turn to Lily.

"Do you know that she's your future self?" I ask her, but to my surprise, she shakes her head.

"W-Well, I - I get the feeling that I _should_ know her..." Lily stammers, incredibly nervous at the fact that she's facing her future self. "But I...don't...think I do...but at the same time, she...she looks exactly like me, so..."

"Worry not, Princess Knight," Artoria declares softly, turning to her fully to give her the utmost attention. "I pose no danger to you. If it should suit you, you do not have to think of me as your future self, because the experiences that we possess are too different to make us the same person."

Not knowing what to say back, Lily shyly glances back at her future self, but she can't hold eye contact for long and she drops it almost immediately. So Artoria simply turns back to me instead.

"Master, please inform me of this singularity you have spoken of," Artoria requests.

"Basically, there's going to be some sort of reality marble that's supposed to appear anywhere in our local area, within, I'd say, about a hundred mile radius of this location," I point straight down at the ground. "Anywhere on land, that is. When it appears, we're tasked to discover the cause of the singularity and track down its origin point to defuse it and eliminate it."

"Understood. Then I take it that we must wait until this singularity reveals itself to us?"

"Yeah. Until it actually shows up, there's not much we can do about it at the moment."

"I see."

I turn then to Matthew to introduce her, since she's just kind of been standing here on my right awkwardly.

"This is Matthew Kyrielight. She's come here specifically from overseas to help us resolve the singularity, and she's actually a Demi-Servant, or a human fused with a Heroic Spirit."

"Uh - um, y-yes, it's - it's my honor to meet you, Miss - er, I mean, King Artoria!" Matthew stammers even harder than Lily does as she raises her trembling hands up at Artoria, who returns it. But the moment their hands connect, I notice Artoria's brows furrow hard, and the handshake itself lasts noticeably longer than the one she had with me.

"Something wrong, Artoria?" I ask my new Servant, but she slowly shakes her head.

"Nay. I thought I sensed something, but...please ignore it. It must have simply been my imagination..."

This naturally doesn't sit well with Matthew, who ends up looking even more nervous than before because of what Artoria's said.

"Then for now, this's what our team'll look like," I nod at everyone, but I let myself frown just a little. "But it doesn't seem like we've got much ranged support outside of myself..."

"Do you specialize in ranged magic combat, Master?" Artoria asks me quite solemnly. "As in, like an Archer-Class Servant?"

"I specialize in whatever the team needs. In this case, it'd be ranged support, since Matthew is a defensive, close-ranged support who can help back the two of you up in combat, which means that preferably, we'd need someone who can cover the rest of you from afar," I reason. "So that means that I'm the one who'll cover that for you three."

"But do know that should the fighting become dangerous, you need only to leave the brunt of the fighting to us," Artoria declares, with the conviction of a king as usual. "Although this may be unlike the usual Holy Grail Wars into which I am normally summoned, I cannot assume that the lethality and the danger of this singularity is any less potent."

"Thanks, but even though I've only ever heard of the Holy Grail War, it's not like I don't know what fighting in a war's like," I give my newest Servant a quick grin. "But that being said, don't worry, I won't get myself in trouble, and if I do, I'll be sure to rely on the rest of you to back me up."

Artoria nods, as do the others.

"Well...that should be it for now. Let's go back home, since it's already pretty late at night..." I murmur, checking the time by raising my hand up in front of myself and tapping the air, releasing a set of small blue ripples, as if I've just broken the surface of a still pond, and the ripples swiftly snap together to form a small rectangular panel that displays the time in digital format: 2314 hours. "Oh, geez, it's late. Yeah, let's go back. Artoria, I don't know if you are, but if you're hungry, I can make something quick and simple for you when we - "

A massive growl lurches from Artoria's direction, and for a full three seconds, Matthew, Lily, and I all just stare at Artoria, who slowly but surely starts to cringe.

"Hm," I say with a small shrug, the first one to speak after that huge stomach growl. "I guess if I had any doubts as to whether or not you and Lily are the same person, then I don't anymore."

Both Matthew and Lily burst into stifled giggles, much to the chagrin of the King, who is trying her very best to maintain her kingly composure.

"...I-I wish to apologize, Master. I...all my life, I have always had a...an admittedly large appetite..." Artoria mumbles, practically refusing to make eye contact with me. "So...please forgive me, but I think I will accept your generosity."

"Please don't worry, King Artoria. Lily was like that when Senpai first summoned her too," Matthew smiles benignly, much to Lily's own chagrin.

"L-Lady Matthew, you really didn't need to tell her that, I don't think!" she protests in embarrassment, and to my own surprise, Artoria actually seems quite quietly relieved to hear this. As much as it's hard for me to believe it, I suppose Lily and Artoria are, in the end, the same person.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Artoria is sitting with Lily on the same side of the table, staring down at the large tray that I've brought for her and put before her. On it sit a large plate loaded with carefully cut bite-sized Korean sausages, eggs done easy over and dashed with the perfect amount of salt, three medium-sized slabs of golden honey ham, grilled onions sauteed in honey ham juice, and some reheated, leftover sliced potato and carrot stir fry, a bowl of miso soup that I'd made for dinner before heading out to Meridian Park earlier in the evening, a bowl of fluffy white rice, and even a side dish of freshly cut kimchi. It actually seems more of like a breakfast, but personally, since I'm a fan of stereotypical American-style breakfast foods at any time of the day, personally this meal doesn't seem strange to me at all. In fact, I've never really let the concept of time interfere with what I want to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner at any point - I am an adamant believer in the freedom of eating whatever you want, whenever you want.

"Ah, if that's too much food, it's alright if you leave some," I tell her, trying to read past the look of surprise on Artoria's face. "I just figured, since you and Lily are the same person, since Lily eats a lot, you'd eat a lot too."

"M-Master...!" Lily protests again, blushing in embarrassment.

"What?" I shrug back at Lily, but she simply pouts and turns away a little, her lips trembling as she purses them away from me. "Aw c'mon, you two're supposed to be the same person, right? How's that embarrassing?"

"But - but she said that we have different enough experiences to make us two different people!" Lily argues a little bit hotly. "So...so...th-that's a little bit...!"

"Alright, alright, my bad, my bad."

In the meantime, Artoria has dug into her food and is stuffing herself already. I'm surprised she's gorging on the rice immediately; Lily herself isn't too huge a fan of rice, and while she doesn't mind eating it, it's not like she's ate it like Artoria's going after her own now.

"You really like rice, huh," I can't help but comment, and just as I say that, she turns and asks me:

"Do you happen to have a pair of chopsticks, Master?"

I point down at her tray, and she leans a little and finds a pair of metal chopsticks already hiding underneath the side of the plate; the fork was more visible since it doesn't have room to slide underneath the plate like the chopsticks can. She immediately picks them up and starts wielding them like a natural - it's like Artoria is a bona fide Asian with how well she can use chopsticks. Somehow, it's a little scary and intimidating - because I think she can use chopsticks better than I can.

"Sorry for asking, but...someone taught you how to use chopsticks, right?" I ask a little hesitantly, since I don't want to be rude talking to someone who's eating, since I'd sometimes get a little annoyed if I get spoken to while I'm eating, depending on the situation and the context. Artoria makes sure to swallow the food in her mouth first before speaking.

"That is correct. In two of the Holy Grail Wars in which I was summoned, I was situated in Japan, and that was when I learned the art of chopstick usage for eating," Artoria explains, glancing over at me briefly. "Why, is it strange to you that someone like me who is not of Oriental descent is proficient in the art of chopsticks, Master?"

"Uhhh..." I scratch the side of my neck, having been put on the spot. "I mean...yeah, I guess it is. Can't say I know too many people who aren't Asian who know how to use chopsticks. Well, as well as you can, anyway. I actually have a few friends who know how to use chopsticks, but since they don't use them as their, like, primary utensil whenever they eat, they're normally not that good with them."

I go to wash my hands off with soap in the nearby restroom that's right behind the dining table (one of the few complaints I do have about this house - it's a little ridiculous to have the bathroom shoved up right next to the dining room, and I've never understood this particular aspect of architecture inside this place, but at least a thick wall separates the two rooms), and when I return, I hit the kitchen first to go through the pantry so that I can bring over a few snacks for everyone to enjoy, including Artoria, presumably after she finishes eating her late dinner.

"Would you girls like some?" I ask Lily and Matthew, offering the snacks to them, and Lily's face brightens at the sight of them as I set them down on the middle of the table.

"Y-You're really too kind, Master..." she says in a decreasing tone while she shyly and hesitantly takes a box of seasoned thin rice snack called "Go-Rae-Bab", which literally means "Whale Food" in Korean. "What's this...?"

"Oh, that's a kind of...seasoned snack. If you open up the box, there's like another little plastic bag inside, and then you open that up and pour it into the box," I instruct Lily, and she follows said instructions and carefully pours the snack into the container box. "Yeah, just like that. And you eat it right out of the box with your fingers."

"Oooh...I see..." Lily nods and gingerly picks up one of the crackers - or pieces - or whatever, I really don't know what each one of that snack would be called in English, because it'd be awkward to call it a "cracker". Each individual piece is very small, like the size of a jelly bean, perhaps larger, and they're all shaped like little whales and covered with seasoning. The seasoning itself isn't _sweet_ , exactly, but it'd be incorrect to call it _spicy_ , either, but what I do know is that it's a very good-tasting seasoning...unique, some might say, but in a very good way. In any case, she holds the piece she's picked up and smiles rather cutely. "It's shaped like this thing on the box. How cute...!"

"It's supposed to be a whale," I explain, opening up my own bag of spicy Saeoo-Kang, another Korean snack that means simply "Shrimp Cracker", while Matthew helps herself to a box of Oh!Gamja, another - you guessed it - Korean snack that's more like traditional American potato chips, but rather than chips, they're big seasoned hollow potato wedges that make a satisfying crunch when you bite into them, probably due to their hollowed insides.

"Whale? Oh...I-I think...it's an animal...? An animal from the sea, right?" Lily guesses. "I'm sorry, we...er, _I_ \- I'd never heard of them back in my own time, so...it was just a little bit unfamiliar..."

"Yeah, no, it's fine. That snack, it literally means 'Whale Food' in Korean."

"D-Does it? That's...that's very cute..." Lily smiles before putting the piece she's holding into her mouth. I can still hear the tiny _crunch_ of the piece as it gets crushed between Lily's teeth, even over the munching of Artoria next to her and the crunching coming from my own mouth and Matthew's, and I enjoy the show as Lily's green eyes widen as she experiences a taste she's never experienced before. "...i-it's delicious...! Such a strange taste...but it's...it is so tasty..."

Captivated by the taste of the snack, Lily immediately tosses another piece into her mouth and savors the flavor of that one too, now that she's broken the ice. I see that she instinctively prefers to eat that snack one piece at a time - I know a few friends who prefer shoving handfuls of the snack into their mouths all at once, but personally I like how Lily eats it because it's the same thing that I do - it makes the snack last a lot longer, and you get to indulge in the taste more.

"Not only can you make great food, but you also keep such great snacks," Matthew giggles to me, back in her normal hoodie, tie, and glasses again as she makes sure to give a potato wedge to Fou, who nibbles it rapidly, almost like a hamster working on a big lettuce leaf. "At this rate, you'll just end up concentrating more on feeding us rather than having us actually fight."

"Oh, the fighting'll come on its own, we don't need to worry about that," I roll my eyes a little bit, but not necessarily _at_ Matthew. "But I happen to believe firmly that you fight better on a full stomach, or at least one that isn't yelling at you to eat. If I can do that, then you girls can fight at your maximum performances. Or that's how my train of thought goes..."

"Maybe...Master likes watching us eat...?" Lily adds with a giggle of her own. I swear, Lily's giggles could bring dead people back to life, which is easier to say than you'd think, especially when there's a random lily flower sprouting on the edge of the table all on its own, seemingly.

"I mean, one of the greatest complements to a person's cooking skill is whether or not people like it enough to eat all of it," I reason. "I think I've done a pretty good job so far."

"Do you have seconds, Master?" Artoria almost shoves her empty rice bowl into my face, prompting me to point a finger at her casually and say,

"...like such," and cause the other two to laugh as I take her rice bowl and go back into the kitchen to refill it with white rice. I only notice that the rest of her plate is completely cleaned off, not a single morsel of food left to be seen, and as I give her back the second bowl of rice, I ask, "you only wanted rice? I can make more food for you if you'd like."

Artoria's face lights up even brighter, and I didn't think that was possible, especially when she's sitting right next to her already luminescent younger self.

"Yes, please!" she demands. Well, then, if a King has placed her demand, I surely can't refuse, can I?

"A-Artoria, please, that's...you shouldn't make Master make more food for you, it's already so late..." I can hear Lily whisper a little more loudly than she should as I open up the fridge to grab more food to make; it'll just be second servings of what I'd given her.

"Well...he was the one to offer..." Artoria mutters back, but the hesitation and clear tone of guilt make clear her awkward afterthoughts.

"I'm fine with making another serving, but it'll have to be the last one, simply because we just don't have enough food in the fridge left to make any more proper meals," I call over through the window in the kitchen; the kitchen is connected to the dining room through a big open section that's cut out, providing space for a countertop to be used as a morning patio of sorts, so that food can be made in the kitchen and served quickly to those sitting on the other side.

"Yes, of course, Master," Artoria calls back, and I get to cooking again. As I cook, I listen to the girls' conversations, which are just casual side conversations, one of which entails Lily telling her future self all about the Go-Rae-Bab that I've given her and offering her some, and I think I can hear Artoria start munching on them too at some point.

Indeed, when I walk out of the kitchen to give Artoria her freshly cooked second helping of rice, miso soup, eggs, Korean sausages, ham, and grilled onion (I'd already given Artoria the rest of the sliced potato and carrot stir-fry leftovers), I find Artoria nibbling on the seasoned Whale Food, eating them together with her younger past self, which in itself is a rather adorable scene. Fou is sitting in Matthew's lap munching on her own piece of potato wedge that it's holding with its small paws and licking them after she eats it in full, and I resume my seat and begin to watch Artoria start demolishing the food as before.

"Senpai, is it alright if I ask you some questions about...um, your combat ability? Because...from what I'd seen earlier tonight, um...your fighting style is, uh, really interesting, to say the least..." Matthew quietly murmurs to me, like she's trying to keep this conversation private from the other Servants, which defeats itself since I know that the two Artoria's can easily hear her when we're sitting right across the table from them. At the mention of this, expectedly, Lily subconsciously glances over at me too, but since I just so happen to be glancing back at her, she ends up looking straight into my eyes, making eye contact with me, which spooks her and cause her to quickly glance away.

"Yeah, sure. Ask me anything," I shrug, returning to my spicy Shrimp Crackers and popping a few of them at a time into my mouth, crunching on them quite loudly, though I mitigate the noise I produce by keeping my lips shut as I chew.

"So...when we first met King Artoria, you told us that you would assume a ranged support role for the three of us because our current party is lacking someone who can fight enemies at a distance," Matthew begins. "But contrary to that, you were sparring with Miss Lily very well, especially when you consider the fact that you actually fought her unarmed while she was using a sword - and not just any sword, but _Caliburn..._ "

"I wasn't fighting unarmed, that's...you can't say that," I shake my head. "You saw those runes I had slapped over my arms. I make those to protect my arms from Caliburn's magic. I don't know exactly what it is, but I got the sense that it's strong enough to rip my arms off if Lily really focused on doing that."

"I-I'd - I'd never want to do something like that to you, Master!" Lily protests in horror, making me feel pretty bad for mentioning that.

"I'm just saying hypothetically, if you were fighting another regular human like me and you put enough power behind your sword, you could do some serious damage just with the mana you put into Caliburn," I elaborate quickly. "But yes, those runes're my weapons; they keep my arms safe from other magics when I'm fighting against people who have enchanted weapons or weapons like Caliburn that possess their own mana flow that they take from their owners. I mean, you've also seen me attack Lily with that big rune that shot off all those beams, right? The little laser things?"

"Well, yes, but that's not what you used primarily to fight Miss Lily with," Matthew replies. "And I'd like to ask, which school did you learn to produce these runes? Because...usually the more mainstream runes aren't developed for the purpose of physical defense, at least not to the degree that yours clearly were designed for..."

"School?" I ask Matthew, making my facial expression clear that I never even knew about the existence of "schools" of magic.

"Er...wait, Senpai, are you, by any chance, self-taught?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"S-Self-taught, and - and your proficiency over runes is this good?" Matthew gawks at me. "Surely you didn't receive _any_ kind of instruction from, like, a mentor or teacher or something like that?"

"I mean...my late foster father _used_ to be a mage, but then he retired, and I just stumbled upon what few books about magic he had lying around the house, and then he decided to teach me a few things. I just kinda built off from there because I was so interested."

Matthew gives me that look that clearly replies in kind that she doesn't believe me.

"I'm not lying," I murmur with a simple shrug, popping a few more shrimp crackers into my mouth.

"I-I never said you were, but...it's...it's just so hard to imagine that...that someone with no formal education in magics or rune construction can fight someone like the King of Britain who's armed with a holy sword like Caliburn - and very well, at that."

"Why, do most mages these days qualify to be a mage by attending school and whatnot? Magic school?" I ask back.

"Yes. The Mages' Association we spoke of the other night, many mages attend it or other schools around the world to receive their training and education. Of course, the fact that there are people who really do end up teaching themselves magic somehow certainly isn't a novel one, but even then, the vast majority of them do receive some kind of instruction or higher education at some point if they wish to pursue magic as a career choice or incorporate it as a major part of their lives. And the ones who don't, well, they...they eventually vanish into obscurity, for the most part, and they stop being magically active. But you're active enough to the point where you're the local Resident Guardian, and...personally, I think you're a lot stronger than you care to let off, Senpai."

I chuckle a little. "That's flattering," is all I have to say to that.

"I-It's not meant to be flattering, I think it's the truth, I really do," Matthew insists. "Plus, even you told King Artoria that you've seen your own fair share of war and combat, so...even if you call it 'flattering', you're obviously hiding some real talent."

I laugh a little. "I guess we'll see for sure if I've got that 'real talent' you're referring to once the singularity hits," I point a shrimp cracker at Matthew before tossing it into my mouth. I also notice Fou glance up at me, and then down at my shrimp cracker bag, so I take one out and offer it to her, watching her take it from my fingers with her own mouth and start chomping on it bit by bit, which causes me to look up at the other Artoria's and say,

"Since we'll be goin' grocery shopping tomorrow, you two don't mind tagging along? Since I get the feeling that I'll have to buy a _lot_ of food to feed you all."

Lily giggles very awkwardly, scratching the back of her head shyly and with a fair degree of chagrin while Artoria, for her part, adopts a little bit of a painful expression as she humbly chews on another chopstickful of white rice.


	11. Confessions of a Modern-Day Mage

A bunch of blue floating panels surround me as I stand in the middle of my bedroom, in between my queen-size bed that honestly is too big for just one person like myself and my office desk and other office peripherals. Today's Saturday, April 22nd...and usually Saturdays and Sundays, in other words the weekends, are free days for me, since in the shipping business and shipping world, weekends are kind of like regular old school where they're free days off - truckers and trucking companies/businesses don't _usually_ deliver on weekends, sometimes because it's company policy or other times because the terminals where certain truckers pick up their cargoes don't let them pickup containers over the weekend, stuff like that, though it usually varies, and obviously just the truckers not working isn't the only reason why weekends are free days for freight forwarders like me. Complicated stuff - I recommend taking a course in shipping logistics if you want to know more about it.

Which means that, since it's Saturday and there's no work that needs immediately taking care of, my morning is free. We stayed up quite late last night since we talked for like four or five hours, well into the early morning, and it's now already eleven o'clock, and I myself only just got out of bed, having thrown on some running shorts that I typically wear around the house. I'm the type of guy who can't really stay asleep past late morning so long as I go to sleep before the sun rises - so anytime before six in the morning. I might find myself feeling a lot more tired than usual as the day goes on, but I just can't bring myself to sleep in _too_ much. Of course, as with everything in life, there are obviously exceptions - some of which involve me staying up past six in the morning and then going to bed, or if I've been busy with shit for the whole damn day for whatever reason.

But those exceptions aren't in play at the moment, which allows me to be up right now on five hours of sleep. Not exactly a healthy sleep schedule, but I'm used to it. For now, I reach up and tap the panel that's directly in front of me, and it expands and smooths its borders into that of a circle, and it expands is layers outwards, turning into a proper rune. I've been meaning to tune this rune for a while now, but work and other aspects of daily life have been forcing me to delay it until now. So now that we've got this singularity to deal with, I more or less have to take care of it now while I still have the chance, and what better time than now on a lazy, sunny Saturday morning to do so?

I lose track of time while tuning my spells and runes and other magical equipment. I've always found magic fascinating; ever since I found my father's books of magecraft, back when I was in high school, I kept looking for more and more things to read and learn about magic. I remember my father being against me learning magecraft, but he couldn't really keep saying no once he fully understood just how invested I wanted to be in it. He did warn me that the life of a mage in this modern era, for the most part, wasn't sustainable and certainly not recommended if you didn't join like a mage's guild or organization or something of that sort, like the Mages' Association in the Clock Tower, for example. Even still, that didn't dissuade me. The funny thing is, for someone like me who likes flexibility and freedom in expression and all that as an art form, magic is _incredibly_ stiff and rigid. There's an unbelievable amount of limitations, restrictions, conditional requirements, and all sorts of utter bullshit that bar most people from using magic, and this even applies to mages themselves, in that even mages can't just go around using any kind of magic they please, but ones that won't turn them into bloody gibs when they use it. So knowing all that, normally I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason why magic, of all things, is as fascinating as I find it.

But as I just said, in this world, I've come to learn that there're always exceptions to everything - even the natural laws of the world make exceptions if you force them to. There are workarounds and loopholes that exist, and that's what I find so fascinating - the method of finding and abusing the loopholes in the laws of magic and seeing just how far you can take those abuses and exploits. It's like playing a fighting game on day one release and doing a whole ton of "lab work", which is fighting game lingo to mean playing the game to research the things you can do and can't do in the game, to see just how badly you can break the game, or perhaps trying to find a good way to speed-run a video game and discovering all sorts of glitches and bugs that help you complete the game faster for the sake of the speedrun. Magic is like that to me - just coming up with the theories behind breaking magic to behave the way you want it to is a ton of fun. Of course, as you might expect, I myself can't do many of them simply because I'm just not that strong of a mage; I'm just a guy with no magical lineage and decided to pick up magecraft more so as a hobby and a side occupation thing because it branched from my initial enthusiasm for learning about magic, and not to mention, I just don't have the proper training regimens that properly trained aspiring mages would have.

So my initial enthusiasm for magic was what carried my efforts to learn magecraft and get acclimated to it, get decent at using it. But as I got older, got out of high school and all that, I remember beginning to wonder...just what my enthusiasm for magecraft would turn into. I do have somewhat of a mage's network that I inherited from my father, who knew a handful of other mages in this area around Southern California and throughout the state as well, so I know them through him, but I've only ever met a few of them, while the rest I've never even met in person, much less talked to in any fashion; all I have in their contact information which, by now, is like seven or eight years old and God knows if the info on it's still relevant. But the few I did meet I've become sort of...associates with, I guess you could say. They've told me stories about famed mages around the world, and one of them even gave me a subscription to this one magazine called "Mage's World" that's something of a newsletter for global news about the magic world, and sometimes those magazines feature articles on prominent mages of the day, which I find quite interesting because, having taken a keen interest in history back when I was still in school, I also love learning about people, events, and concepts. And I read through those articles, learn about these famous mages of yesteryear and today, and sometimes I find myself asking if that's what I'm aiming to be eventually, some day, in the distant or not-so-distant future.

Because let's face it: now that I have a handful of years' experience being a mage, I can see why my father warned me against it: this modern world, the world in which we live today, just doesn't need magic. Modern human technology is accelerating at a pace that's honestly quite scary; I've heard that more and more mages of the present are incorporating elements of modern human technology into their magecraft, and I'm a perfect example of that, if you couldn't tell already. And while modern human technology is still a far cry from the ridiculous shit that magecraft can still pull off (and perhaps will never reach the same sheer potential of magecraft, for that matter), the general consensus, I feel, in the mage's world is that modern human technology will become so useful, so convenient, that it will permeate the magic world little by little by little, until one day, before the magic world itself realizes it, they've also fallen victim to the lure and the appeal of modern human technology. And although that's not an immediate concern right now, it does mean that in the future, it'll be harder to tell who's a more talented mage. Of course, it's easy to break that argument down and see why that should never _be_ a concern in the first place, but the stigma against modern human technology is still there, which means that, for the most part, the "traditional" mages of the magic world will always staunchly be against the incorporation of technology into magic, and that camp holds the vast majority of these so-called famous mages of today.

This, then, stamps a problem in my own personal path of magecraft: my own magical powers have expanded rapidly over the past several years, now that I've matured my skills and have gotten acclimated to using magic freely, both in form and in time. I've since received the position of Resident Guardian, presiding over the this area of Southern California. And because I'm still very, _very_ young for a mage with this kind of a title (or so I hear), I've got decades of years ahead of me to improve, hone, and master the magical skills that I possess. What does this mean for me, then? Because as Matthew brought up earlier, I'm a young, self-taught mage who has no problem fighting like a street fighter and incorporates technological elements to his magecraft. So in other words, I'm against what traditional mages like those who belong to organizations like the Mages' Association stand for. You can probably see where I'm going with this: eventually, I may run the risk of butting heads with people from these organizations, even if I don't intend to and have no interest in fueling wars between them and me. And as much as I support a live-and-let-live mentality, I know that _those_ people don't, so they'll come after me if they think I pose a significant enough threat, even if I really don't. And now with this singularity, depending on how long it lasts, it may actually be dangerous for me not in the sense that I'll die while trying to resolve it, which, don't get me wrong, certainly _can_ happen, but in the sense that I'll become more powerful as a result of it, should I survive it. And that's been the case every single time a major magical incident has shown up and I needed to solve it because I'm the Resident Guardian of my territories, because there's no better training than live action and combat.

I sigh loudly as a bit of flame bursts a little from the panel that I'm tuning, a sign that I'm not paying attention to my work because of the thoughts running through my head. I tend to think a lot...dwell on things that worry me. I'm a thinker type of guy, as you can clearly see. Logic, reasoning, and careful thinking...I'm a fan of those. Not to say that I can't lose my temper, but you'd have to push the exact right buttons for me to go berserk.

Some knocking comes from my front door, a sign that I should probably finish my tuning. I check my surveillance runes, and it's Artoria standing outside my door.

"Come in," I call over, pulling the rune before me together with my hands and shaping the rune back into its usual rectangle-ish shape as usual, and my door opens to reveal Artoria stepping inside, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

"Lady Matthew has asked me to call for you, Master," she says curtly. "She has been making lunch, and she would like you to eat as well."

Artoria's wearing the same outfit from last night...or rather, earlier today, I guess I should say. A prim and proper white collared blouse with a blue collar ribbon, a long blue dress, black pantyhose, and white socks. A very simple and yet quaintly elegant outfit, yet something that starkly contrasts with her identity as a king. You'd think that King Arthur would wear something more regal than that, but I suppose that _is_ her casual outfit.

"Yeah, I'll be down there in a second," I reply, nodding back to her. "Let me take care of this real quick..."

Artoria nods, watching me briefly. "Your spells, Master?" she asks politely.

"Yep. I'm just tuning them a little bit...make sure that they're in their best condition."

Artoria's lips frown just slightly. "Tuning...correct me if I am wrong, Master, but...I was under the impression that most mages need not perform maintenance of that kind on their spells due to their construction?"

"That's true, but I'm not a normal mage," I explain as I pack up more of the floating blue panels around me. "Most mages can just construct their spells whenever they want because of the training that they've received - either that, or their magical blood or lineage makes it second nature to them. I both don't have any proper training and don't have any kind of magical lineage, as far as I'm aware. So if I want to make the most out of what magic I _do_ have, I have to construct them ahead of time, before a fight, and make sure to maintain them until I use them."

"It sounds like a lot of work, Master."

"It is, but it's not bad. I'm used to it. It's the drawback of a normal human like me being able to use magic as proficiently as normal mages."

"I see."

Artoria stays with me anyway until I'm able to dismantle all the panels around me, whereupon I join her as we head downstairs to go eat lunch.

"Where's Lily? Is she still sleeping?" I ask Artoria, who nods. "I see. Let's let her sleep some more, I'm sure she's not used to going to bed at five in the morning..."

"You seem fine, however, Master. Perhaps you yourself are accustomed to such a schedule?" Artoria asks as we make our way into the kitchen to join Matthew, sounds of sizzling bacon and the like crackling out of the big open window and the crack in the doors of the kitchen throughout the entire first floor.

"Yeah, I'm a night owl kind of guy."

"Night owl?"

"Just an expression denoting someone who tends to stay up late at night."

"Oh, I see."

Fou greets us at the doors of the kitchen, and I stoop down to offer it my arms, and it jumps up into my arms so that I can carry it back into the kitchen with Artoria by my side. Inside, Matthew is standing with a plain olive green apron in front of the stove, cooking eggs and bacon, and the rice cooker is going nuts, clearly indicating that the rice is now done.

"Ah, good morning, Senpai," Matthew greets me with a nice smile that could soothe pained souls. "Um, you don't mind that I borrowed your apron, right...?"

I glance down at it. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember when the fuck I even used that apron last. It's actually rather nostalgic...my father used to wear that a lot back in the day. He wore it less and less as the years dragged on, and I never bothered tossing it, even though it _looks_ like it's older than me. Hm, now that I think about it, I've never really thought about it in a sentimental sense, but I wouldn't be surprised if I subconsciously decided to keep it around...just as a memento of the little tidbit of family life I did have with my dad.

"Nah, you can use it. It's a little old though, and I think it's the only one we've got...sorry that you had to use it..." I smile slightly back at Matthew, looking around the kitchen to see if somehow there's just another apron magically sitting around somewhere, even though I damn well know that there isn't.

"No, it's fine. It fits me perfectly, too!" Matthew holds up the sides of the apron, and I smile a little more back. Oh well, as long as she's happy with it.

I set Fou down on the floor again so that I can take care of the rice cooker, shutting off its little alarm and setting it to "keep warm" so that I can start serving the rice. I open up the cupboard just above the rice cooker and pull out a bowl, filling it up with fluffy white rice for Artoria before handing it to her, which she earnestly takes, and I then hand a plate over to Matthew so that she can load it up with sunny-side-up eggs and bacon.

"Let's see..." I murmur to myself as I lean a little over the stove to check on the pot that's cooking the miso soup, which, to my pleasant surprise, Matthew's reheated up with a little bit of gas flow to a nice temperature, which means that I can start pouring the miso soup with the ladle in the drawer next to me.

"I reheated the miso soup for everyone, Senpai," Matthew informs me as I check on the soup and pull out the ladle from the utensils drawer.

"Yep. Thanks for that, I was afraid we were gonna have to deal with cold miso for today...which I'm not against, but..."

As we bring over the plates and utensils for the table, some soft creaking from the stairs indicates the arrival of Lily, who almost stumbles her way down the stairs, still rubbing her eyes and yawning massively, very obviously still tired from the lack of sleep.

"You should sleep some more if you're still tired, Lily," I tell her as I set down Artoria's bowl of miso soup for her. "It's Saturday, so you can sleep in as much as you want."

"...but I smelled food..." Lily mumbles sleepily as she slips past the back of her older self's chair and plops herself down on her chair. Matthew, walking out of the kitchen with Lily's plate, suddenly lets out a short gasp.

"M-Miss Lily!" Matthew says rather loudly, more loudly than usual, anyway, and when I turn around to see what Matthew's reacting so strongly for, her face is reddening quickly and rapidly. "Your - your clothes!"

Oh, right. Presumably because of her sleepiness, Lily's forgotten to put on any clothes over her bedclothes because she's walked straight downstairs from her room. So as of this moment, she's only got one of those babydoll t-shirts on, along with, surprise surprise, white panties.

"Mmmnnn?" Lily asks groggily, and she slowly drops her neck to glance down at herself. That's just about enough to snap her out of her sleepiness, and she immediately jumps out of her chair and bolts away back upstairs faster than Matthew can even reach the table from the kitchen, which, mind you, is not far at all. Lily almost knocks Artoria's chair over in the process, too, but it seems that Artoria's too busy concentrating on eating to really care.

"S-Senpai, didn't you notice that she didn't have clothes on...?" Matthew nervously asks, looking after Lily with great concern as she sets her plate down at Lily's spot at the table.

"Hm...I did, but it didn't occur to me right away that it was something I should've told her about," I scratch my chin a little with concern as well.

"Senpai, d-don't tell me..." Matthew eyes me with even _more_ nervousness.

"No, it's not what you think. Even if it _is_ a pleasure to a guy like me to watch cute girls walk around in their underwear."

"Then - then why - "

"I've lived by myself for quite a while, now, so my social skills aren't up to par to where they ought'a be. Like telling a girl who's walking around in her underwear that she's walking around in her underwear."

"Those are quite particular social skills you lack, Master," Artoria remarks bluntly through her food.

"Trust me, I know what I'm bad at, don't need to tell _me_ twice..." I chuckle as I sit down to enjoy the food that Matthew's cooked for us this morning.

In the middle of the meal, Saber Lily does eventually return, stepping down the stairs slowly and carefully, as if she wants to join us without letting us notice. But as soon as she reaches the bottom of the stairs, I look up at her and smile at her, causing her to blush insanely hard and timidly tiptoe back over to her chair, sitting down so silently that I start getting worried if she's even making any physical contact with the chair at all. I decide that it's best if I don't bring it up right now, so now that she's joined us and the gang's all here, I decide to talk to everyone about our plans for today.

"So after we eat, I do want to take everyone for another tour around this town again, just so that Artoria's caught up to speed with what I've shown you two already," I point at both Matthew and Saber Lily. "And afterwards, we'll do some grocery shopping down at Nelson and maybe grab another meal down there too."

"Grocery shopping...but I thought there was a supermarket that we went to yesterday with Miss Lily?" Matthew asks.

"Yeah, but this other one I wanna go to is a Korean supermarket that has stuff that only it sells, stuff that they don't sell in supermarkets like Von's," I explain. "Plus, it's where I get all those snacks that we had last night."

"Then by all means, we must go," Artoria nods strongly, in full support of our plans for today. But of course.

"But we'll - well, I guess just me - I'll have to take care of a few other things while we're down there too," I tell them also. "Remember how I said that I needed to head down to Nelson during the night for something? Well, that kinda fell through when Artoria showed up, so I'll take care of that this afternoon after we do our grocery shopping."

"What kind of thing do you need to get done?" Matthew asks. Really only Matthew's the one in any kind of mood to speak with me, since Artoria is too busy stuffing herself and Lily is, well, too embarrassed still to get herself to talk.

"Some tuning...I've got some surveillance runes in certain spots of the towns that I preside over that make sure that nothing fishy's going on anywhere," I tell Matthew. "It shouldn't take long."


	12. A Lion's Appetite

And half an hour later, Matthew, Fou, Artoria, Lily, and I climb out of the car to step foot on an old blacktop parking lot in which my Mercedes is now parked. Before us sprawls the lot full of cars - well, actually, there aren't _that_ many cars, since it's barely about to be noon; usually this place does have high traffic and occupancy during the weekends, but once it starts getting later on in the day. And beyond the cars and the lot stands a modestly large horizontal building that houses two separate supermarkets: a Longs Drugs convenience store on the left and our destination on the right, a Korean market known as Lotteria Market.

"This's where I usually pick up stuff," I announce to the girls, leading them towards it across the parking lot. "As in, Korean and other Asian foods, that kinda stuff. As you'll notice..." I wave around to the few people also walking to and fro across the lot, "...most of the people who come here are Korean, or at least some type of Asian ethnicity."

Artoria nods. "What about Japanese, Master?" she asks curtly. She's still got her "casual" clothes on, that white blouse with the thick blue dress and tall boots.

"Japanese? Uh, yeah, Japanese people come here too sometimes, I guess. I've seen 'em," I shrug.

"What about food? As in, Japanese-style food?"

"This place has some too. Obviously not as much as a proper Japanese market, but we have some similarities."

I then glance down at Fou, who's trotting close to Matthew's feet.

"Are you sure we can bring him along?" I murmur over to her.

"Fou can hide his presence on his own; you won't have to worry about him," she explains, and I nod. Before we enter the supermarket, I take a turn just before the door off to the side, where a length of railing sections off a line of carts, of which I take one before entering, with the girls waiting for me, watching what I'm doing.

"Um, if you girls wanna just wander around and look at stuff, in case it gets boring sticking with me, you can go on ahead," I tell the girls as I direct my cart towards the produce section, which is, invariably, the largest section of the market and the first one you'd enter as soon as you head inside this place.

While Lily looks hesitant and shy, Artoria folds her arms instead. "If I were to possess more knowledge of this particular market, I would take up your offer, Master. But as this is our first time coming here, and in the case that we are to return to this place frequently in the future, I think that it would be for the best if you were to show us around first."

"Sure, good idea. So, needless to say, this's the produce section..."

As we casually walk around while I inspect and load my cart up with lettuce and cabbage heads, bags of apples, a box of Korean pears, green onions, cucumbers, onions, and green and red bell peppers, I can feel the gazes of _everyone else_ present in the produce section with us. But I kind of already expected that - there's no way in hell that you're going to go _un_ noticed when you decide to bring along three _very attractive_ young women, especially ones who clearly look like foreigners, into a _Korean_ supermarket. But they're just stares of wonder and even amusement; I've learned to differentiate the kinds of stares I get, because there is in fact a difference between times when someone gives you a look of wonder and when someone gives you a look of pure hate.

So it comes as no surprise when I sense Lily inching closer to me as we're stopped by the watermelon stand of the produce section, while I'm in the middle of inspecting some of them, lifting up a couple and tapping my knuckles against them and listening closely to the kind of noises they report back.

"Somethin' wrong, Lily?" I ask her, my eyes still focused on choosing the best watermelon possible as my hands pick up another to test it with another tap of their knuckles.

"Er...well..." Lily is practically whispering. Again, understandable. "...I-I just get the feeling that we're...um...that everyone is looking at us..."

"Don't worry about it. It's just because you're foreigners inside an Asian supermarket," I explain casually while Artoria, having seen a food sample booth not too far away and gone to visit it, returns promptly to us with a tiny sample cup of udon noodles. "It's gonna happen. You'll notice that everyone in here except for you three are also Korean or Asian just like I am."

"I was also subjected to this treatment for some time, Lily," Artoria mentions after quietly slurping up her sample noodles. "You will get used to it. As August said, they are harmless."

It's still unnecessarily surreal to me that Lily and Artoria are the same person. It just bugs the hell out of me, though, that the "older" Artoria looks _nothing_ older than the "younger". Maybe I ought to ask her about it some time, since I know that's gonna bug the hell out of me sooner or later.

Lily shyly nods, but she still keeps near me. The watermelon in my hands sounds good, so I place it inside the basket of the cart, pressing it up against the box of Korean pears so that it doesn't roll around.

"Senpai, what were you doing just now?" Matthew asks curiously while Fou, who's decided to jump on in the cart for a free ride, taps the watermelon next to him with his paw, since he's sitting on the box of pears itself after finding the grates of the cart a little uncomfortable to sit on directly.

"Oh, I was just seeing which watermelons were good to take," I shrug. "I learned it from my dad. He said that if you tap it and the sound it makes sounds deep, that means it's ripe and it's good to eat."

"Huh. But...since this is a supermarket, shouldn't they have something like quality control to make sure that everything here is ripe? What if someone buys a watermelon and gets sick from eating it because it wasn't ripe enough?"

"Well, I'd imagine they harvest the watermelons batch by batch or however, during a period where it's expected that the watermelons become ripe. So typically all the watermelons _should_ be safe to eat since they've matured enough, but the watermelons themselves have varying degrees of ripeness since, y'know, all the watermelons grow at different rates. So it's always good to check."

After picking out the watermelon, my usual pathing takes me out of the produce section into the seafood and meats section, which is along the far side of the market from the entrances and exits. Lily and Matthew both eagerly step forward to take a look at the live crabs and crayfish sitting or swimming lazily inside their tanks and the piles of fresh shrimp and mackerel and other types of fish sitting in open trays in front of the tanks. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my eye, I spy Artoria stealthily snag another sample cup of udon noodles. She's _that_ person, huh...

"Would any of you like seafood?" I ask the girls, joining Lily and Matthew in front of the tanks. "Seafood isn't my specialty, but I do know a few recipes, I guess."

"Yes, seafood sounds lovely," Artoria hops in swiftly, joining us in front of the tanks. Her voice sounds suspiciously slightly muffled by chewing noises.

"You took a _second_ one...?" I ask her softly, for good reason, as the sample udon noodle booth is literally _right behind us._

"The noodles are good, August. Would you like to try some?"

"...I can just _make_ them for you if you like them so much. Then everyone can enjoy them."

"A great idea. Would you like me to fetch some?"

"Uh...sure..."

So Artoria pivots around, grabs I think three packages of udon noodles, pivots again, and places them in front of the watermelon inside the cart. Yep, count 'em: one, two, and three.

"Fou..." Fou murmurs with concern, giving his new cart-mates a somewhat apprehensive look. Perhaps he thinks that the more stuff we put in, the more likely we're just going to trap him inside underneath a mountain of stuff.

"You know, I kinda got the sense that you really like eating, but...I guess your love for food is on a plane of existence that defies my understanding..." I mutter to Artoria, who, without even breaking a smile, looks _so_ damn smug about her newly acquired loot.

"Nonsense. It is natural for anyone who requires food as sustenance to show at least some degree of enthusiasm for it," Artoria declares rather grandly, for a topic that sounds strange when talked grandly about.

"Um, but...Lady Artoria, Servants don't necessarily need food for sustenance..." Matthew mentions, and when we glance over at her to see what her reaction's like, Artoria is already busy munching on a _third_ sample cup of udon noodles.

"...I get the feeling that before I myself become a casualty in this singularity, my wallet will," I slowly grumble while shaking my head.

"I-I can arrange for Chaldea to send you additional funds if it gets really bad..." Matthew tries to reassure me as I sigh deeply, preparing myself mentally to see a huge list of food purchases at the end of the month on my credit card bill. In the meantime, I bag a few of the mackerel laid out on the open trays before us and then set them on top of the counter nearby, tapping the bell to call for assistance, at which a worker, an older man whom I recognize has been working in his market in the seafood section for at least the past eight years (my father mentioned that this guy was working here even he himself first started shopping here at Lotteria) comes out to greet me.

"Yes, what would you like?" he says rather loudly to me in Korean, not because he's being rude but because he wants to make sure that I, as his customer, knows what he's saying, since there are frequently times when he has to deal with old Korean ladies who can't hear very well and need people to talk loudly to them.

"Gutted and boneless, please," I call back to him, and he nods his confirmation, practically swipes the bag that I've placed on the counter right off, and dumps the fish out onto a cutting board behind him to get to work. Exactly one minute later, he's setting the bag of gutted mackerel with all the bones removed onto the weight scale to calculate the price, after which he slaps a sticker with a bar code for the cashier up front to scan for payment.

"There you go. Tell your father that I'll give him one of those for free next time," the old man nods strongly to me.

"I will, thank you," I reply back, still in Korean, and he ducks underneath the heavy flaps that lead into the back room behind the counter.

"Um, Mas - I mean, A-August, who was he...?" Lily asks me curiously as I place the bag of gutted fish in the baby seat of the cart, the place where shopping mothers would place their toddlers. "He seemed to know you...or so I feel..."

"An old friend of my dad's, you could say," I shrug again, taking another glance at the heavy black flaps that lead into the back room. "Well, not really a _friend_ friend...just someone we happen to know. He's been working in this market for a really long time, as far as I can remember, and my dad was a big fan of seafood, so we stopped by this place a lot."

"Oh, okay...I see..."

We move on to the meats section, which is part of the seafood section. I pick out a handful of packages of chilled marinated short ribs, commonly known as "galbi" (Korean cuisine has become so popular within mainstream American food culture here on the West Coast that more and more non-Asian people know what it is), frozen bulgogi, which is sliced marinated beef or pork, and, even though I'd never buy this for myself, a package of chilled sliced cow tongue, which I order from the guy behind the meats counter, who, like the old man from before, puts the beef tongue in a thin plastic case, slaps a sticker on it for the cashier, and hands it to me.

"What are these, August?" Artoria asks immediately once I set the beef tongue down with the other meats.

"Let's see, this is called 'galbi', or in English, short ribs. This is called 'bulgogi', marinated beef or pork, but in this case it's beef, and this is beef tongue," I show her the newest little plastic case I've gotten my hands on. "It's considered to be a good delicacy; normally I'd never buy this, but since, well..." I glance around at the girls, "...I've suddenly found myself with three more mouths to feed..."

"Fou!"

I glance down inside the cart to find Fou sitting up on his box of pears, looking straight back up at me.

"...four, m'bad. Try not to get addicted to these, Artoria."

"Addicted? I don't know what you are referring to," Artoria smiles plainly at me. That smile is full of lies and cannot be protected.

Moving on, we circle around the supermarket - basically the route I take, which is the route my father and I used to always take when we went shopping together here in the past, is to circle around the edges of the market for all the basic foodstuffs we'd need, and then venture into the center aisles of the market for anything extra. I do start finding myself picking up a lot of things that I'd normally never really pick up for myself, like the beef tongue, or only sometimes pick up on special occasions or if I just so happen to have the itch to do so, like bundles of fishcake sticks, 1-liter bottles and six-packs of various Korean beverages like 2%, Chilsung Cider, Milkis, and Demi-Cider. This is also the part where Lily and Matthew also start browsing the contents for themselves, as the bright, colorful labels on the drinks, juices, sausages, and Lunchables attract them - oh, I forgot to mention that this is the section where the supermarket also sells American products, stuff you'd see normally in an American market like Von's or Ralph's, I suppose, just so that the market's American customers can have something to fall back on in case they don't find anything they'd want.

"M-Master - I-I mean!" I hear Lily getting all flustered as she hurries over to me from the side. I look up at her, currently busy with choosing a good, big jar of kimchi to replace the one back home that's got a nearly depleted supply, and I see that she's holding a pack of Lunchables, Ham and American with a Butterfingers mini-bar and a Berry Capri-Sun juice pouch inside. Hey, that's my favorite one. "A-August, m-may I...?"

"Sure, put it in the cart somewhere," I smile lightly at her, and looking the most excited I've ever seen a girl like Lily get over something like a pack of Lunchables, Lily sets it down next to Fou, who mumbles again with concern, now that the cart is slowly but surely filling up with more and more stuff. Matthew, hearing him moan, hurries over to his rescue and picks him up out of the cart to hold onto him, and Artoria, now that Fou is removed, busies herself with organizing the contents of the cart, evenly placing them in such a way that there's suddenly more space freed up to put in even _more_ stuff.

"I'm just gonna warn you all now, we're gonna have a _lotta_ bags to put into the car," I chuckle, setting down a new jar of kimchi inside the cart, in the little corner of space that I've reserved for it, since the jar of kimchi is very heavy and will likely crush anything beneath it if it's not sturdy enough. As I get behind the cart to push it forward, noting how heavy it is and difficult it is for me to push compared to when we first entered the market, I point over a short distance ahead of us at a large goblet-like bin filled to the brim with a huge, thick plastic bag that, itself, is filled with nothing but freshly heated Korean corn. "Any of you want some corn? And no, Artoria, those aren't samples, if you eat them we have to pay for 'em."

Artoria, who was just about to hurry over and grab one, freezes in her tracks.

"Matthew, can you remind me next time that when we go on a shopping trip like this, we need to leave Artoria behind?" I sigh to my underclassman as the four of us near the corn bin.

Artoria grimaces but says nothing as I take a nearby bag from a roll of plastic bags standing near the corn bin and start filling it with whole corn - in fact, I take another bag, so that we have two bags of six corns each. The scent of the cooked corn is pungently sweet and heavenly - even from a distance, passersby can smell their tantalizing auras, and by now both Lily and Artoria are taking large whiffs. This time, I can't blame them - every time I come here by myself, it takes a great deal of patience and self-control out of me not to give in and start dumping my cart/basket with bags on bags of this corn. I like to think that this is an ingenious plan to get people to spend more money, by deploying this tactically placed bin of godlike corn near the end of the journey of shoppers who typically want nothing more than to purchase their groceries and go home and make a meal, and thus get them when their defenses are weakened. How diabolical - but hey, it works.

While the two Artoria's are now starting to warm their hands over the heated corn like it's a hearth (which I don't understand because it's already April), I head over to the nearby heated section; the place near which the corn resides is like a section for in-house products, foods that the market itself makes - usually a variety of traditional Korean foods and ingredients, but there's also this heated section, very similar to the heated booths in American supermarkets that typically hold stuff like roast chicken, rotisserie chicken, etc., that holds packages of cooked chicken drumsticks, japchae (Korean thin noodles akin to Chinese chow mein and Japanese yakisoba), and Korean veggie pancakes (there's a name for them but unfortunately I forgot, and their labels don't label them in Korean, either, only English, and that's literally what the market calls them). My favorite that I _always_ pick up every time I pay a visit here is the sweet and sour chicken - their fried chicken is okay, and I definitely don't mind eating it, but their sweet and sour chicken is so much better that I find it hard to justify taking the fried chicken over it unless the sweet & sours are all sold out already - which sometimes they are, understandably so. And besides, if I wanted fried chicken, I'd just go to other places like Kentucky Fried Chicken or other places that specialize in that. Not many places specialize in making this particular kind of sweet and sour chicken, however.

Because I've got three extra mouths to feed - four, if you count the majestic Fou - I clear shop. I dump a total of seven packages of the sweet and sour chicken onto the cart, each of them carrying six to seven drumsticks and costing more per weight.

"Um...Senpai...?" Matthew asks hesitantly as Artoria immediately picks up one of the packages of sweet and sour chicken, immediately sensing that this will be a very tasty meat to have for dinner.

"Yeah?" I ask back as I start pushing the cart again, this time over in the direction of the cashier aisles, but before that, I make sure to stop at the entrance of the snacks aisle too.

"Th-This is a _lot_ of food...are you sure that this isn't too much?"

I take a moment to review my cart. Matthew's got a point - there's a mountain of shit sitting in it. Thank God Fou isn't hitching a ride in this cart anymore, we'd have to dig his ass out if he were.

"Yes. Yes, it's definitely too much food," I nod curtly.

"Then...why - "

I point at the Artoria's. Mainly, Artoria.

"...I think I'm going to go ahead and request financial assistance from Chaldea, Senpai."

"Up to you, I'm not expecting anything."

"But they did send us that extra quartz that allowed us to summon Lady Artoria."

"It's a setup. They rigged FATE to summon Artoria so that they can bankrupt me by weaponizing her bottomless stomach. See? She's raiding the snack aisle right now."

Sure enough, Artoria is pulling down bag after bag of Korean snacks while Lily looks on, torn between joining her older self and keeping with her sense of reservation.

"I-If you want me to, I can go and stop her - "

"Nah. Let her do her thing."

"A-Are you sure...?!"

"Yep. By the way, I _totally_ forgot to get some rice, so I'll be right back - just make sure nothing falls out of the cart when Artoria starts stackin' up the snacks."

" _That's_ what you're worried about - !?"

I don't reply because I'm already busy hurrying off to fetch a bag of rice from one of the first two aisles next to the produce section, and when I do return lugging a bag of rice over my right shoulder, I find the cart indeed overflowing with snacks. Artoria seems quite pleased as she reviews her loot, standing over the cart.

"Well, I guess there's no space for this guy," I nod down at the cart while patting the side of the bag of rice on my shoulder, already feeling the tears of my wallet wetting my pocket.

"I-I'm so sorry, Master!" Lily tries to bow in apology, perhaps for her older self's extreme affinity for anything that even remotely describes the meaning of "food".

"It's fine. Let's buy this and get outta here."

Needless to say, it takes us a whole five minutes just to get all the shit in the cart scanned into the cashier and another three for the poor guy bagging our groceries to put them inside the cart. I already foresee the need to have some of us just carry some of the bags since there's so much crap, and when that point comes, I tell our bagger to give us the bags instead, and I hand them off to the girls to carry as I pay for it all - a whopping two hundred and ninety-six doll-hairs, a personal slang of mine to say "dollars".

"I-I hope this isn't too much, Master..." Lily groans quietly as we exit the market, crossing the road that separates the market building from the lot and heading back to the Mercedes to load all the groceries in.

"It wasn't as much as I thought it'd be. Besides, I can afford this - it's not so bad," I reassure her as we reach the car, and I open up the trunk so that we can start throwing everything in.

"Master, is it alright if I partake in some of the snacks inside the car?" Artoria asks with the most intense look someone could ever have asking to eat snacks inside of a car.

"Uhhh...y-yeah, sure, just don't make a mess," I shrug for the third time so far. I don't know why I would deny a request like that, Artoria's endless appetite aside.

We climb inside the car again once everything's loaded and after I put our cart back, which I'm sure is _very_ relieved that we've relieved it of its monumental burden. You've done well, O Cart, for you have held with your body the sustenance of not just one, but _two_ legendary Kings of Britain. I bet conceptually, that'd probably qualify it to become a Catalyst. But now's not the time for that.

As I back the car out of our parking space to exit the lot, I spy Artoria sharing her bag of pizza-flavored chips with Lily, who eagerly takes some and starts munching on them with the greatest of small joys.

"So...where to next, Senpai?" Matthew asks, sitting shotgun with Fou on her lap.

"Now onto my little chore that I said I needed to do," I nod, piloting the car out of the lot and back onto the streets. "Tunin' the runes I have up in a couple different places. It shouldn't take too long, but I guess that depends on the kind of traffic we'll get..."

Now that I think about it, now that it's about half past one on a Saturday afternoon, traffic _should_ be getting quite heavy...but it's just Nelson traffic. At least it's not _Los Angeles_ traffic...

"By the way, Artoria, don't eat too many snacks, we _are_ going to eat after I'm done with my stuff, remember?" I mention to Artoria.

"Of course, Master. I have not forgotten," Artoria replies...in between crunches of pizza chips.

"...sounds 'bout right."

We drive in relative silence for a few moments, with the crunching of pizza chips filling the car despite the fact that I've got all the windows down in the car now. As we sit waiting for a left turn signal to turn green - or blue, whichever you prefer - I notice Matthew turning to me slowly.

"...Senpai, is it alright if I ask you something, um...a little bit...sensitive...?" she asks, almost as if in a whisper.

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's...um...it's...about your father."

"Mhm. What about him?"

"Was he...your only family?"

"Yep."

A long and tense silence follows after that. I take note of the fact that the pizza chip munching and crunching has also stopped, only resuming after I get the car moving for the green left turn signal.

"I inherited my freight forwarding business from him. As a matter of fact, before he died, he made sure to train me to the point where I could take over the business in his place if something were to happen to him or if he decided to retire. He was at that age to retire anyways, so..."

"I-I see. And...um...you...you said that, um, he was also a mage too, since he was the one who taught you...?" Matthew asks very slowly.

"Yep."

"Okay." Matthew pauses again, but she resumes when we hit another red light. "And, um...how long ago did he pass away?"

"Three years ago, just about."

"I see. I'm...sorry."

"It's fine. It's been a while, so I'm over it," I wave my hand a little.

"Um, do you miss him, Master...?" Lily peeps from behind, since she's sitting directly behind me.

"Yes and no."

"Why no...?" Matthew asks, frowning suddenly in concern.

"No, because he and I butted heads a _lot_ ," I chuckle a little. "We'd fight over the most useless things ever. He was super stubborn, a stubborn ol' man; if something wasn't done his way about certain things, he'd flip his shit. Mostly this happened during my training to take over his business - he taught me how to run it in the ways he knew how, and whenever I'd come up with different ways to do things, he'd go ballistic. His sense of humor was also really...I don't know, _weird._ I didn't get it much, so what he thought was a joke I'd take as an offense, and vice versa. So we fought a lot over shit like that."

Our first destination's coming up with this next intersection, which we approach, and I prepare to take a right by switching lanes pre-emptively. At this point, I do start wondering a little bit why Matthew is asking me these things, but for now, I decide to stay quiet about that - who knows, Matthew could, for all I know, but Chaldea's spy to monitor my condition and decide if I'm cut out to be this area's Resident Guardian or gauge the power of Resident Guardians in the area through me or something far-fetched like that.

"Do you have any other family, then?" Matthew continues to ask.

"Nope. None that I know of, other than the friends of my dad's that I know, sorta," I shrug again.

"Then...you're an only child?"

"Yeah." I pause, then say, "something like that."


	13. Sounds Like a Challenge

After parking the car, the gang and I step on out of the car again. I've pulled the car up to a small and a bit cramped parking lot on the corner of a big intersection here in the town of Nelson; it's a very busy intersection at that, especially during this time of the day, so the droning of car engines can be heard constantly as we step out of the car. This corner of the intersection is a small commercial bloc, with a Chinese bank branch sharing a building with a local 24-hour Subway's and a Yoshinoya teriyaki bowl restaurant off to the side in a little strip to our right. It's a bit of a pain to enter this parking lot, since really there's only one reliable way to enter it thanks to the layout of this bloc in conjunction with the sheer business of the intersection, so I'm surprised that the Yoshinoya's here has remained as successful as they've been over the years - it's been here as long as I can remember, in fact. Maybe the fact that there's a big residential area just behind this bloc helps a lot, since it's easily within walking distance for the nearest block of houses.

"Before we go," I mention to the girls as they look around to take in the sights, "let me do one thing real quick..."

I raise my hand and cast an invisible spell on all three of them - Matthew, Artoria, and Lily; I assume Fou can handle his own.

"Master, what is this spell...?" Lily asks a little hesitantly. Everyone should feel the sensation of a spell being cast on them - I intentionally make it very obvious that that is happening so that they know, since there's no reason for them _not_ to know.

"It's a presence concealment spell. It'll mask our presences when I do some maintenance..."

I beckon to the girls, who follow me as I walk out of the parking lot and onto the adjacent sidewalk up to the corner of the intersection, where the big intersection pole that holds up the signals for one side of the intersection stands. As we head over, Artoria asks,

"For you to know a spell like this...are you perhaps trained in the arts of the Assassin-Class, Master?"

"And for you to be able to grant it to others with a spell..." Matthew adds uncertainly.

"I've always been naturally good at sneaking around," I tell them, stopping before the big intersection pole and facing the button that controls the sidewalk light for pedestrians. "Let's just say that I've had a lot of practice."

"But how would you be able to grant that to others? Something like presence concealment is normally a skill, not a spell..."

Perfect timing, I guess. I raise my hand over the sidewalk signal button and push it with the tip of my index finger, but not without there being a tiny rune that places itself in between the button and my finger as I push it. The moment I draw my finger back, a pair of much larger blue runes that are almost impossible to see in broad daylight due to the thinness of their outlines scan the large pole, one from the top and one from the base, and adjust themselves to face me like an interface, combining themselves together to form a larger, more complex rune that begins to display a multitude of different panels with an even bigger myriad of options.

"My magecraft is a little...different than what you might be used to," I tell them, concentrating on my work as I open up the memory log of this particular surveillance rune to go over the details that it's stored over the past few weeks and make sure that there are no apparent anomalies. "I call it 'Modular Magecraft'; it's a system of spellcrafting that gives me as much freedom to me as a mage as possible for me to make whatever spell that I need to fit whatever situation I want it to. My dad was the one who first kinda...built it, I guess; he constructed the basis for it and taught it to me after he realized that I was interested in learning magic, and once I learned how to use it, I expanded more on it and practiced it to the point where I can use it for pretty much anything, or at least that's the theory."

The girls look on as I swipe the data log up slowly with my finger, like I'm managing a touchscreen.

"It looks very, um...modern," Matthew comments, looking directly over my right shoulder while holding Fou in her arms.

"And you'd be right. I've already mentioned how I've never received any proper training from any one magic school or institution, so I had to learn magecraft in ways that a young guy living in a modern era like this would understand. I happen to be fairly good with computers and such, so I constructed my spells to kinda match that. I'd imagine that this is _nothing_ like how standard magecraft should look like."

"It isn't, actually."

"Yeah, thought so."

"So...what is this list supposed to tell you?" Matthew continues on. Seems like she's really the only one asking questions, though I can tell by their gazes that the two Artoria's are still interested enough to continue observing my work. "Or, rather, how does this rune work?"

"Basically, this is what I like to calla surveillance rune - I might'a mentioned that a bit earlier sometime. I set these up in specific high-traffic areas around the towns and territories that I preside over as Resident Guardian, and they monitor their respective areas for any anomalies that might show up. Things like random magic energy spikes, significant chances to the movement patterns of local wildlife, since they can subconsciously detect magic a lot better than humans can...stuff like that. They also record their surroundings in a three-sixty arc just in case something happens and I need video evidence of it, but usually I don't check those since it's really...tedious...to have to watch through _weeks_ of film like that...speaking of recording..."

Once I'm done checking the log, I back out of that particular window and open up another under "Video Surveillance" options, and this new panel displays a whole ton of video recording files neatly organized by the day. I could change it to display them on a week to week or month to month basis, too. Since I haven't detected anything weird going on from this rune's logs for the past month, I decide that it's a good time to purge the files so that I can free up the storage on this rune. I select all the files using a very convenient "Select All" button on the browser itself and hold my finger over the highlighted files; this way, a smaller drop-down list shows up to give me some more sub-options, of which I select "Compress + Copy", which makes the rune begin reformatting all the video files it contains at the moment to reduce their storage space.

"This style...kind, whichever you wanna call it...of magecraft really suits someone like me," I tell the girls, turning to them since the rune will need some time to process what's basically a month's worth of video files. "It makes it so that even someone like me, who's got no magical background, no magical lineage, or magical pedigree, can become a semi-decent mage. Even without any proper magical education..."

"So a system of magic that allows one to construct spells to fit any situation and is highly accessible to those not intimately familiar with magic," Artoria summarizes. "Surely, there must be drawbacks to such a system?"

"There are, tons of them, in fact. For one, this magic system's totally incompatible with standard magic systems, the ones they teach in proper magic schools and whatnot. So let's say that I wanted to work with another mage who's trained in conventional magecraft. If we needed to construct runes together to make a more powerful spell, we can't do that, because a conventional spell wouldn't recognize mine and fail to synergize with it. On top of which, my Modular magecraft is what it sounds like: it's designed to be highly malleable so that I can edit it and change it on the fly and add things that I learn from other spells to make my own spells even stronger. It's not to say that I can't work with other mages, but it's safe to say that it's not good for other mages to work with me. What else..."

I glance over at the processing rune to make sure that it's making decent progress, which it is, but it seems that we'll still have to wait a little while longer.

"The depth of my magecraft is really shallow. That's the main price I have to pay, for the ability to create spells to fit whatever situation I need," I elaborate further. "Because my main goal with this style of magecraft is simply to achieve what I want to get done, what I want to make happen, and nothing more beyond that. I don't really...practice magecraft for the art of it, so there's like a conceptual conflict there. So my spells can't be as deep and intricate as normal spells would be, even if I wanted them to be."

"But the spells that you've been using so far..." Matthew says almost the instant I finish my own thoughts, "...they've seemed very powerful and intricate. The defensive runes you've used against Miss Lily the other night, and now this one, where you have it recording everything in its surroundings - they're not supposed to be intricate at all? Or are they just...simple spells too?"

"Their _roles_ are complex and allow them to do a lot of things, but their nature and their constructions are really simple. That's what I mean by not a lot of depth," I clarify. "It's so that a novice mage like me can take a look at them from a purely magical standpoint and understand what's going on. Wait, actually, no, that's...that's not quite right..."

I raise a finger again, thinking of how to rephrase that last statement, because it's not entirely accurate.

"It's so that non-magical individuals who don't have a basic understanding of magecraft can take a look at a spell like this and more or less get a sense of how it works," I say again. "This Modular magecraft system works off logic. Matthew, you know what a computer is, right? Are you familiar with them?"

"C-Computers? Uhh...well...sometimes I see Dr. Roman work with one back at Chaldea, but...I don't really know how they work..." Matthew murmurs nervously and uncertainly as usual.

"Then correct me if I'm wrong, but conventional magecraft is fueled by magical energy or catalysts that contain magical energy. While my magecraft also requires magical energy, it mainly uses non-magical energy; energy that your body naturally produces as a result of, y'know, eating food, drinking water, that kind of energy. It also runs off logical processes and so follows a predetermined pattern or style. This means that once I use a spell, what you see is what you get; it's _really_ easily for an enemy, if they're smart enough, to predict and understand the kinds of spells I use because I can't modify them beyond what I've meant for them to do during the time that I've created them. And since it doesn't use magical energy, the strength of the spells themselves can't match normal spells that're powered by actual magical energy."

"But your spells were very strong, Master," Lily says, having to raise her voice past what it usually sounds like because of all the traffic roaring behind and around us. "Those spells seemed like they were doing their jobs really well."

"Only because I've refined them and practiced them so much," I shake my head. "I remember when I first started learning how to use this style of magic, my spells were flimsy as shit. That same spell you saw me use against you to block your sword when we were sparring? I remember my dad used to be able to break them by tapping with a pen. Not exactly what I'd call _strong_..."

"But you have stated yourself that your spells have since become much stronger," Artoria points out.

"Yeah, and they have, but...there might come a time when I fight another mage who'll break my spells just as easily as they were before," I shrug. "I always have to think that my spells are weak, because they are when you compare them to normal spells. And since it's not like I can just walk out there and learn how 'normal' magecraft works, it motivates me to keep practicing them and keep refining them, keep makin' 'em stronger, until I can fight other mages without them making my spells look like a waste of effort."

I glance over to my rune again, and it's almost done compressing, so I face it again and promptly delete all the original video files, now that their compressed copies are saved and archived. I also make the rune gather up all the copies I've made and make a second set of copies for me to take back home with me just so that I've got a backup cache of these.

"And we're done with this one," I announce, physically grabbing the extra rune that gets spit out at me and absorbing it through my hand so that it enters my own personal matrix of runes and information, pasting it physically against a blue panel that pops up for me so that it can store the extra files conveniently. "There's a teriyaki bowl place right behind us, over there. Wanna eat there?"

"Yes, with great pleasure," Artoria _immediately_ replies, to no surprise whatsoever.

"U-Um...I still feel a little full from lunch earlier today, so...I think I'll pass..." Matthew says shyly, and I nod at her to let her know that I understand as we walk back over to the Yoshinoya's nearby. "So how many more of these will we be visiting?"

"Three more. They're spread out throughout the town, so we're gonna be driving around for a while. You sure you don't at least wanna buy something to go so that you can eat it while in the car?"

"E-Eat in the car...?" Matthew looks perfectly _astounded_ at the concept of eating food inside a moving vehicle.

"I mean, I don't mind even if you spill something...we can just clean it up afterwards, right? Or do you not feel comfortable eating inside the car?"

Matthew shakes her head as I hold the door open for the girls to walk inside first before me into the restaurant.

* * *

The digital clock on my car's dashboard now reads 2:54pm as I pull the car up into the middle of the garage, the loud garage door droning its way up to give the car space to slip inside. I've always been meaning to fix the door so that it's not as frickin' loud when it opens and closes - no, seriously, you can hear, no, _feel_ the thing open even on the _top floor_ \- but I've never bothered to get around to fixing it yet. It's not that there's anything particularly _wrong_ with it - matter of fact, there isn't, it's just always been like that for as long as I can remember - but that doesn't change the fact that it's annoying as hell. I've just happened to get used to it over the years of hearing it blare like an annoying airhorn that's being blown for a little too long...though I can't say the same for the girls, obviously. Looks like they don't mind, though. Maybe Lily does - she's given the garage door a few strange looks at times. So has Fou, too, but...Fou is Fou.

I open up the car trunk, and the girls help take the grocery bags upstairs into the kitchen, and I close the garage door after them. Usually I'd be fine with carrying all the bags myself, but even with me carrying a lot of bags at once, as I've learned to do, with the pile of groceries we've bought today, this would take me at least three round trips, up and down the stairs. With these girls, however, we all take a quarter of the bags each and that's a wrap.

As I follow after the girls into the kitchen and tell them to set the bags plop down on the middle of the kitchen floor, a very strange thought occurs to me: I've just made two - er, one - Kings of Britain carry my groceries for me. Hm, very strange. I guess it's best not to dwell on the surreal stuff.

"Master, I would like to try the corn that we have purchased from the market we visited earlier this afternoon," Artoria asks eagerly as I begin sorting the foodstuffs from their respective grocery bags, and she asks this as soon as I open up the first bag, which just so happens to be keeping the plastic bag that we've jam-packed with freshly heated Korean sweet corn. Because of how well we knotted the bag, the corn is still quite warm, and the aroma of the sweet corn gets released like sulfur as soon as I unknot the bag and permeates the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure, help yourself. It's still a little hot, so make sure to grab a small dish," I nod up at Artoria, who's bending her knees a little to peer down hungrily at the bag of corn in my hands. Mind you, this is the same girl who demolished four teriyaki chicken bowls not even an hour ago.

"M-May I have one too, Master?" Lily asks also, and even though she sounds shyer and more reserved, I can still hear an undeniably familiar sense of eagerness in her voice, too. Some things don't change no matter how old you get, I suppose.

I nod up at her as Artoria almost rushes over to one of the high cupboards to fetch herself and her younger self some small dishes that will fit these corn cobs, and I wash my hands first in the kitchen sink and shake off the water as best I can before handing the two Artoria's their corn. Artoria _immediately_ chomps into hers the moment she receives it and beams like a true King.

"Such a thick and tough texture, but a rich flavor," she remarks with satisfaction before taking another chomp from her corn. Lily takes smaller bites, but while she doesn't say anything, her facial expression is even more ecstatic than her older self's, blissful, even.

Even Fou wants in on some of this, as I find him tapping my left knee with his paw.

"Fou, Fou...kyukauuu," he says.

I have no idea what that means. I'm going to totally pretend like I do.

"Here." Picking up another corn, I grip the corn base firmly with my right hand and use my thumbnail (no, not the digital picture) of my left hand to peel off the kernels individually so that Fou can have bite-sized pieces of corn. The corn is still very much warm, to the point where I could actually get a small burn from holding it for too long with this tight of a grip, but I'm used to dealing with this kind of heat. I kind of had to, given how much cooking I've done for this little party I've got on my hands over the past few days. I offer a handful of peeled kernels to Fou, who enthusiastically stuffs his snout into my hand and starts munching on the kernels. I can feel the corn juice popping from the kernels and drip down onto my hands as Fou chews on them.

"F-Fou, you shouldn't bother Senpai with this..." Matthew tries to stop Fou, kneeling down to usher him away, but I chuckle a little and tell her that it's okay.

"Though, I do have to get to sorting all the groceries out, so if you could take this corn off me and feed Fou for me, that'd be nice," I tell her, and she nods quickly and relieves me of Fou's corn. And once Fou himself is done cleaning my hand of the peeled kernels, even licking the corn juice that's spilled onto my hand, Matthew picks up Fou and carries with away so that I can finally get up, wash my hands for a second time, and get to storing all the food away.

"Master, I can help...if you'd like..." Lily offers a little awkwardly, watching me while standing next to Artoria, who's clearly enslaved by the juicy goodness that is Korean sweet corn.

"It's fine. I like sorting groceries out on my own, anyway - I like having stuff in specific areas so that I know where to go if I want them," I explain casually, opening up one of the bottom drawers of the refrigerator and carefully rolling the apples that we've bought into them, making sure not to let the apples roll in too fast to prevent them from getting unnecessarily bruised. But they're apples, so I shouldn't even have to worry about that. If they were peaches, on the other hand...

Crap, I forgot to buy peaches. Ah well, we can always go back tomorrow or something.

"But...as Servants, we should...we should help out...or something, at least..." Lily murmurs innocently. "For you to be doing everything for us is..."

"I dunno. I find it _really weird_ that I just had the legendary King of Britain carry my groceries into my kitchen for me," I laugh a little.

"Is that meant to be an underhanded insult, Master?" Artoria sighs, but she doesn't sound angry. Not like she _can_ be, when she's got a cob of Korean sweet corn in her hands to occupy her.

"No, just something strange that a lowly plebeian like me would think."

"L-Lowly plebeian..." Lily repeats after me, balking a little.

I put the big jar of kimchi into the biggest shelf of the fridge and slide it in so that I can be efficient with the space inside. "So I'm just curious, but what makes you like eating so much? Do you just like eating?" I ask Artoria, who reacts swiftly by furrowing her eyebrows at me. Maybe not the best question to ask her right off the rip.

"I simply happen to have a big appetite and the ability to value good food, Master," she quips back as I hear another crunch of her teeth pulling out more kernels of corn from her cob, and in the meantime, I'm setting the tin foil packages wrapped with plastic wrap filled with sweet and sour chicken on the counter of the kitchen next to the stove so that I can decide whether or not I want to stick them in the fridge for later or heat them up a little more for dinner later on tonight.

"Mm. Fair enough."

The two Artoria's continue watching me as I work swiftly to organize all the groceries. I notice out of the corner of my eye that Lily tries several times to convince herself to help me out, but I think the speed with which I'm working tells her to do otherwise, so she just kind of stands with her older self in the corner, nibbling on her corn a little. Over in the adjacent dining room, from the table, we can all hear Fou noisily crunch and munch on her own corn.

"Um, how about you, Master?" Lily asks, trying not to make it awkward for us - after all, Lily and Artoria are standing in the corner just watching me organize the groceries and knot up the empty plastic bags to recycle them later as trash can bags for the smaller wastebaskets that I've got standing around the house.

"How about me what?" I ask, glancing over at her momentarily while setting the bag of rice down inside one of the bigger pantries, which has a long and thin door that's always annoyed the heck out of me because it's way too small of a door for how much space there is inside.

"How did you, um...uummm..." Lily is desperately reaching for words, so I stay patient with her. "W-When did you learn how to cook so well?" she finally blurts out.

"Lots and lots of practice," I grin a little, shutting the pantry door behind me after opening the new bag of rice. The old one still has a decent amount left, so I leave it inside along with the new one. "I kinda learned how to cook more out of necessity more than me wanting to."

"Oh. Uh, what...made you learn?"

"Once I became the only person to live in this house."

The entire house gets deathly quiet after that. I more or less anticipated that, since that was quite a bombshell, but I continue talking so alleviate the fallout of awkwardness.

"I was kind of a spoiled kid, honestly, before my dad died," I muse with a thoughtful tone so that I don't sound like I'm getting all Debbie Downer on everyone all of a sudden. "My dad always made meals for the two of us. I knew how to cook basic things, like how to cook meat, cook rice, make miso soup...but he'd always be the one to cook if he wasn't busy with something else. So at the time, I didn't really feel the need to learn how. Once he passed on, I knew that he wasn't going to make me food anymore, so...yeah. Goes without saying, but I started taking care of myself. Since, y'know, I had to. I never really had the chance to ask my dad why this was, like, why he didn't just tell me to make dinner for the two of us at least some of the time. I personally think it was 'cause he was too nice of a person, and that he wanted to take care of his son, even when his son was growing up and was already out of high school and of legal age..."

I manage to put away the rest of the groceries while I'm talking, and I close the refrigerator door and finish my thoughts while leaning against the front of the fridge.

"And so once I did start learning how to make food on my own, since I didn't expect myself to be eating the same kinds of food over and over, I branched out...learned how to make other food, stuff like that...basically try to expand my horizons, that sorta thing."

Glancing to my left, I notice that Artoria has strangely stopped eating. I get this feeling that it takes a lot to get her to stop eating her food halfway through - though, to be fair, she's almost eaten off all the kernels by now.

"Um...Master, but...your food...your food isn't the kind that someone who lives alone and cooks only for themselves would normally make," Lily points out rather perceptively. Clever girl.

"I just like trying to achieve my best in everything I do," I smile over at Lily. "Be it my usual line of work, magecraft, or just cooking a meal, I like it when I put in my one hundred percent effort into it. But now that I've got more people to feed and take care of, I've got more of a reason to put in more effort into stuff. Especially cooking."

"I-I'm sorry..." Lily hangs her head, knowing exactly where the implications of my last statement are directed.

"It's fine. So long as you like what I make for you."

"As long as you are not Gawain..." Artoria mumbles off-handedly.

"Gawain?"

"Never mind."

"That's one of the Knights of the Round Table, if I'm not mistaken..." I rub my chin thoughtfully, although my knowledge of Arthurian legend is, admittedly, not that strong, on top of reading about it a _very_ long time ago, possibly back when I was still in high school. "Why, did Gawain make food for you too, back in the day?"

Artoria begins rather irritably biting off the last few kernels of her corn.

"I'll...take that as a yes," I say slowly, putting two and two together and figuring that it's best that I don't press the issue further.

"If I am able to ask of you a selfish request, Master," Artoria sighs a little bit, lowering her corn once she's eaten all its kernel back onto her small dish.

"Of course. What is it?"

"...no mashed potatoes, please."

I frown in disappointment.

"...but I love mashed potatoes..." I sigh. "Oh well. I'll keep that in mind."

Artoria clearly starts to look guilty, since this is probably the first time that my Servants have seen me demonstrate a clear instance of disappointment.

"B-But...since you have already proved yourself to be a more than capable cook..." Artoria quickly tries to salvage the situation, "...I may try mashed potatoes again. But only once!"

I cross my arms.

"That sounds like a challenge..." I muse quietly to myself. I notice that Artoria is slowly letting an expression of dread creep up onto her face, afraid of what terrible mistake that she's made, letting me make her mashed potatoes.


	14. Personal Business

Nighttime, and I'm sitting in front of my work computer again, typing loudly away at my keyboard. I think I mentioned this before, but my work schedule is more sporadic and intermittent throughout the day, rather than a typical nine to five job, and the main reason for that is the fact that a lot of my business partners are in China (technically the business partners and agents of my dad, whom I then subsequently inherited upon taking over the business) are, due to time zone differences, are at work when it's nighttime here on the West Coast of America. I'd do what work comes in casually, since most of the brunt of the work still comes in either over the night or later on in the morning the next day, since I still do have plenty of business with other domestic business partners here in the country.

But tonight seems to be a particularly busy night - I know I started up my night work session pretty late, since we were having a little _too_ much fun trying to help Artoria overcome her aversion to mashed potatoes - which, by the way, we found out that it wasn't necessarily because she hated mashed potatoes themselves, but rather that she just developed a distinct dislike for them simply because of how bad a cook Sir Gawain was, which personally I find utterly hilarious - but still, as I send another email off to one of my Chinese business partners and glance down at the bottom right corner of the screen, I realize that it's already nearing one in the morning. Which, for a night-owl such as myself, isn't remotely late in the night at all, but still, I try to make a habit of getting at least six hours of sleep each night _and_ waking up at a somewhat decent time for the sake of my work.

Sunday, April 23rd. I'm pretty sure I've already paid my tithe for the month...yeah, I must have. I open up the Chase website and log into my account (again, my dad's, before I inherited it along with the business), double-checking that I indeed have already paid my tithe to church, and sure enough, my memory doesn't fail me. My memory is always spot-on for everything that doesn't matter in my life, but when it comes to actually important things like this, I have a tendency to just let things slip by me, and I sometimes really wish it were the other way around. I don't have a lot of pet peeves, but missing things important, like money-related matters, really pisses me off, especially if it's _my_ own fault, because that means that _I_ could have prevented that mistake. I don't get anywhere near as angry at other people because in my mind, it's understandable that other people can make mistakes from time to time, and that, since I don't have any control over other people, it's not like it was _my_ fault that _they_ made a mistake.

Am I rambling again? I'll answer that for you: yes, I am. Let's move on.

I finally finish up the rest of the work for tonight, when it seems like the flow of emails coming from my Chinese agent in Shanghai has come to a temporary stop, though I know there'll be more emails from them as the night drags on. I open up Google and start searching around for different kinds of recipes for all kinds of food that I enjoy making and preparing, especially those related to pork and chicken, my two favorite meats to cook. Beef is alright, but I just find myself liking to cook the other two a lot more, simply because I just love pork and chicken a lot more. Seafood is tricky, but I've done it before and I've done alright, by my own standards, anyway, but fish and other seafood definitely takes more finesse and culinary knowledge to prepare correctly and deliciously. Luckily, my dad liked to cook all kinds of stuff back in the day, which he learned from his own wife even before then, so it's like second-generation handed-down knowledge that I'm using, along with whatever else that I learn. Not that there's anything wrong with that, even two generations in, all this culinary knowledge is still kicking some serious ass, since even some shmuck like me is able to make some good shit with it.

No, not _literally_ good shit, what the fuck's wrong with you.

One certain recipe catches my eye, and it's a bite-sized pork recipe that, by its description and images, looks really good and gets me curious to try to make it, but I take a look at the ingredients that I'd need, and then I change my mind - I'm not sure if it's worth getting _truffles_ for this. Maybe on special occasions, but...yeah, not now. But it does spark an idea in my mind - I remember that my dad once cooked pork similar to this one, but prepared with red ginger, Korean salt, garlic and herbs, and that pork was amazing - I'd only ever tried it once, and even when I did make it, it wasn't half-bad, though nowhere as good as what my dad made. But then again, it's been about two, three years since I attempted that recipe. So maybe I can improve on it this time around, who knows. I'll just have to try.

 _Knock, knock._

It's Matthew. One of these days, I'll ask her why her parents thought it was a great fucking idea to give their daughter name like "Matthew", because as far as I'm aware, Matthew is typically not a name given to girls. In before my house gets torched tomorrow by social justice warriors screaming about why girls can't have masculine names.

Wait a minute, her real name is "Mash".

 _Even worse._

"Come in?" I turn around in my chair to face Matthew as she steps inside, though without Fou, whom I notice is absent when he's usually within Matthew's presence. "Hey, how's it going."

Matthew nods slowly in greeting. "Good evening, Senpai. Um, you aren't going to sleep yet?"

"I'm a bit of the night owl kinda person. That, and I was doing some work so that I won't have as much tomorrow when I get up."

"Oh, I see."

I gesture down at Matthew's feet. "Where's Fou? Sleeping?"

"Uh huh," Matthew nods again. "He's already gone to bed. He's in my room."

"Cool. Then what brings you here?"

"Oh...well, nothing...nothing in particular, I just wanted to see when you were going to sleep..." Matthew fidgets a little, looking away uncertainly. "...I don't mean to, um, sound...rude or anything...I'm just concerned that you might be tired tomorrow when you get up...today was a busy today, after all..."

I grin very slightly. Years and years of practicing my smiles to gain control over the muscles in and around my mouth to perfect the technique of smiling (what were _you_ thinking, huh?) have granted me the power to create any degree of smile to fit every and any social situation known to man. This particular slight smile is one that I use to deflect the concerns of others and convey the sense that I'll be okay, despite extraneous concerns of this nature.

"I'll be fine. I was just looking up new recipes to try out later on for everyone," I mention, pointing my thumb over my shoulder briefly to show her what's on the monitor. At that, Matthew smiles again.

"You must really like cooking, don't you, Senpai," she says.

I frown suddenly. Actually, now that Matthew mentions it, I actually don't know if I truly _like_ cooking or not. I don't get any particular enjoyment out of it because it's something necessary that I have to do in order to sustain myself as a human being. Sure, it's interesting, but interest and a personal liking aren't necessarily mutually inclusive; you don't have to like something that you find interesting.

"...um...Senpai?" Matthew asks. My silence in response to her question is making her uncomfortable, since she now thinks that she's said something offensive to me.

"Oh, no, it's nothing," I mention quickly. "I was just thinking about whether or not I really do like cooking or not."

The look on her face switches almost instantly from worry to bewilderment.

"But...how would you be so good at cooking if you didn't like it?" Matthew asks. I get the feeling that she's let out her words before she's thought them through.

"Well, my personal reasoning's that once I got into a position where I had to start taking care of myself, I realized that learning how to cook for myself was going to have to be a core skill, because I can't just eat out every night, that's probably really unhealthy. So I learned more out of necessity for my own health. I didn't really take personal pleasure or anything like that into account while I was learning. It's just something I do, at this point."

I raise a finger up, like I'm a college professor.

"But I will say that cooking for other people is quite nice; it's actually pretty fun, because then, I've got a vested interest into what I'm cooking that extends beyond just my own needs and wants," I do add right after. "So as of late, now that I've got everyone to take care of, cooking's been pretty fun, not gonna lie."

Matthew at first looks a little relieved, but then she just pulls her countenance of worry back on again.

"...you're not just saying that just to have me not worry anymore, right?" she asks slowly.

"Why, do you think that I'm not really enjoying having to cook this much for everyone?"

"I-I just think it's...it's going to be a hassle for you, or that at some point you'll just feel like always having to cook for everyone will become a pain," Matthew confesses. "So...when that time comes, I just...wanted to let you know that I can, to some extent, cook for everyone. I don't think my own personal cooking skills can hope to match yours, though..."

"That's fine. I can usually eat whatever," I nod. "Just no tomatoes or eggplants, please."

"Um...sure..."

"By the way, can I ask you something?"

Matthew blinks, a little surprised that I'd have something to ask her.

"Um, yeah, how may I help you...?"

"So...uh, I apologize in advance if I'm prodding into personal family business, but...I'd kinda like to know why you were named 'Mash'. That...that, uh, seems like..." I scratch my head, wondering how in the hell I'm gonna phrase this without sounding like a complete tool. "Let's just say that it's something I wouldn't really think about naming my own daughter, for example."

Even before I start the second half of that thought, watching her, I can tell that this is indeed some bad family business I'm stickin' my head into, just based on how crestfallen Matthew's facial expression becomes once I mention this. My facial expression reading skills alert me to the fact that Matthew does _not_ want to talk about this at all.

"...you don't have to answer me that if you don't want to," I add quietly at the end.

"No, I...I will tell you, Senpai," Matthew says suddenly, lifting her chin up in reinvigorated motivation. Reverse psychology, best psychology, I guess. "I think you have every right to know."

I just sit and smile, waiting for her to elaborate. It's not like I can do much else, anyway.

"I'm...what is called a 'Designer Baby'. A Designer Baby is an artificially bio-engineered mage who is born through artificial fertilization and genetic manipulation, using a combination of modern human technology and alchemy. By nature, while I may have a family, I do not know them - I don't know my parents, and I certainly don't know if I will ever come to know them."

The phrase "Designer Baby" almost immediately plants an image of a human infant wearing Gucci's and Versace's and peeking out of a Louis Vuitton bag. It takes me all of my strength to force myself _not_ to laugh, because Matthew will probably throw her shield at me if I do.

"I see," I say, nodding understandingly. "While I've personally never heard of these 'Designer Babies' myself, from what you've described, they sound pretty similar to the nature of homunculi, if I'm not mistaken."

"Actually, yes, I am quite similar to a homunculus. It is just that Designer Babies are created through technological means, as opposed to true homunculi who are produced through purely alchemic means."

"Gotcha."

"My nature as a Designer Baby is what allows me to have the power of a Demi-Servant," Matthew continues on. "When Ms. Olga's father was in charge of Chaldea, he commissioned the creation of a research and development team that was codenamed 'First Order', whose task was to create Designer Babies such as myself and produce prime human vessels with which to create Demi-Servants, again, such as myself with which to summon Heroic Spirits and control their powers. I was born - well, 'created' would be the more technical term - in 2000, and the First Order performed their first summoning to begin their task of binding Heroic Servants to me and other Designer Babies."

"And so given the fact that I've only ever heard of you and no one else like you, is it safe to assume that you were the only one who survived that?"

Matthew nods slowly, with a mysterious look on her face that's a fusion of a whole bunch of emotions so messily tangled in with each other that it would be like trying to pull your leg out of quicksand if you were to try to read what kind of expression that was.

"Because I was the sole success, First Order was deemed an overall failure, and Ms. Olga's father, Mr Marisbury Animusphere, ordered it to be shut down to divert the resources that were funding the team elsewhere. The servant who was successfully summoned and bound to me also objected to First Order's goals, but...for my sake, he ultimately decided to stay."

"So your life is basically dependent on his existence, huh."

Matthew slowly nods.

"If I might ask, which Heroic Spirit do you have?"

Matthew clears her throat a little.

"G...Galahad," she answers meekly, lowering her gaze noticeably. "Son of Lancelot...and a Knight of the Round Table."

Damn. So that must've been part of the reason why she was so surprised to see Artoria pop up. I start to wonder why she wasn't _as_ surprised at Saber Lily showing up, but then again, she was the one who was holding onto that free summoning card to begin with, and that's also Artoria before she became "King Arthur" like the older Artoria is. But still, what're the chances of this happening?

"But the thing is, Galahad's spirit, while it resides within me, will not awaken due to his abhorrence to the First Order's goals, so currently he is in hibernation."

"Hm. And what were to happen if he wakes up?"

Matthew blinks at me blankly, and then just kind of...looks away again.

"...I'm not sure," she mumbles. "Ever since his summoning and binding, he has not once awoken from his hibernation. Not even Dr. Roman was able to guess as to what would happen should he awake."

"Somehow, just based off how you're saying it, it doesn't sound like a good thing if he does decide to come back."

Matthew just slowly shrugs.

"Oh, and...if I may, if this doesn't, uh, if this isn't something too sensitive for me to ask..." I lean forward in my chair a little. "You said that, being one of these 'Designer Babies' or whatever, you're similar to homunculi, right?"

"Yes, in a sense."

"Then is it alright for me to ask you what your physical defect is?"

Matthew freezes up a little. Well, I guess _that_ wasn't that much better of a question to ask, either.

"Sorry, again, if that was something too sensitive..." I back away calmly. Body language is just as important as vocal speech in awkward situations - it's almost like dealing with a frightened bunny, though I'm not sure if that analogy works simply for the fact that I've never had to deal with a frightened bunny.

"Um...y-yeah...I..." Matthew can't bear to make eye contact with me again. "If possible...I don't..."

"Yeah, that's fine. Again, sorry for asking," I say quickly. "It's getting late now, I'm gonna go to sleep pretty soon anyway. You should go to bed now, since God knows we'll have to figure out how to cook enough food to feed those two Artoria's..."

Matthew manages to force a smile and bows her way out, closing the door to my room behind her with a soft snap.

I sigh a little. I knew that I was walking through a minefield there, and not only that, I was knowingly stepping on a few mines too. But it's not because I wanted to be an ass that I asked those questions, but if we're going to head into combat together at some point when this singularity shows up, whenever it does, I'd like to know things like that. As a Designer Baby, since she says that she's similar to a homunculus, Matthew is obviously going to have some sort of physical defect with her because of all the genetic overhauling that she's gone through as a fetus. I've heard of these experiments before - and none of them have ended prettily. It's even amazing to know that Matthew was able to survive it at all, that and the Heroic Spirit binding ceremony or whatever the hell they must've done to get Galahad to be bound to her vessel. And who knows, what if Matthew has a defect that will seriously affect the performance of the entire party during this singularity? I'd like to know that beforehand so I know what to expect; it could already be potentially tough enough to have to go into this singularity without any knowledge of it prior, since that's just the nature of these kinds of occurrences, so my thinking is that we don't need to make it harder on ourselves by hiding whatever glaring weaknesses we might have.

But it's whatever, it's not the end of the world if I can't learn about Matthew's entire personal life. The world doesn't care if you have to fight with a handicap and it certainly won't reward you any more for it if you happen to emerge from a fight with a handicap alive.

Kind of cruel, maybe, but...hey, cruelty is par for the course in the world of magic. I don't even think you need me to tell you that.

Since I have nothing better to do at this point, and since I'm not really in the mood to browse through more potential recipes on the Internet that I could make for my Servants this week, I decide to shut down my computer and get ready for bed. The usual things...brush teeth, floss, wash hands and face with soap, clean my glasses, and hang up my clothes and hop into bed in a t-shirt and some fresh, clean basketball shorts. I don't know where or when I picked up the habit to go to sleep in basketball shorts, I really don't. My best guess is sometime during high school...but I didn't even really play a lot of basketball, in no small fault because of the fact that my high school didn't really have a lot of basketball courts that weren't located inside the main gymnasium...not to also mention the fact that the very next year after I graduated, they opened up a second gym with more basketball courts, so that was just fucking lovely.

* * *

Going to sleep is apparently harder than usual tonight, because about five minutes after I turn off the lights, I sense a massive spike in magical energy in the air. Of fucking _course_ it had to be _right_ before I fall asleep...ugh. I wonder if this is what people refer to as "E-Rank Luck".

But there's no time to be wondering about luck parameters and other irrelevant bullshit like that; immediately throwing off the covers and hopping out, I quickly throw on my usual clothes of a light dark hoodie zip-up jacket, black jeans, fingerless gloves, and my usual Samuel L. Jackson cap. Can't go anywhere without good ol' Sam to give me moral support.

As I'm calibrating my spells to make sure they're all in tip-top shape and not half-usable from rapid magic decay, which is a natural side effect of the kind of magic that I'm using, I hear rapid, heavy footsteps storming towards my door, and not too long afterwards, an urgent knocking.

"Yeah, I'm up," I call through the door, dispersing my magic spells and programs, finishing just as they start knocking, and I open the door to greet the three girls behind it, plus Fou. "You girls all felt that, right?"

"Yes. It seems that the time has come..." Artoria says with a grim nod. Everyone is in full battle costume now, Lily in her white white and dress, Artoria in her regal blue, and Matthew in that alluring black and purple bodysuit or whatever, though for now she hasn't summoned her gigantic shield right now due to obvious reasons. I motion for them to come inside my room as I stand in the middle and snap my fingers, watching a large blue rune swirl and snap itself into place like a machine gear.

"The singularity's felt like it's shown up somewhere to the north..." I murmur, keeping my hand extended over the blue rune that's built itself a 3-D model of my home town of Tierra del Llamas so that the map scrolls quickly north, an idea I totally didn't steal from websites like Mapquest or Google Maps. Saber Lily watches on with fascinated interest, while Matthew and Artoria both look on with serious expressions on their faces...probably to be expected. "There."

My map rune, having been growing more and more red to indicate the location and proximity of the singularity's emergence, pinpoints it to King's Road College, a community college I attended occasionally during high school and after high school for things like Japanese classes and logistics classes to better prepare myself to take over the business that I'm currently in charge of.

"That's a school that I used to attend," I clarify, letting the girls get a good look at the singularity site - I simply call it a school, since I'm not sure if the girls will understand me if I say "community college". "And I'd rather not have it destroyed. You girls ready to go?"

All three of them nod quickly.

"Um, how far away is it? And how will we get there?" Lily asks a little timidly, as if wondering if she's asking a dumb question or not.

To answer her, instead of talking, I clench my hand to get the map rune to wipe the 3-D rendering of the buildings and local topography off itself, and I then convert the base rune into a teleportation rune, and the blue circle accelerates and spins clockwise quickly for about three revolutions before slowing back down to a halt. The rune then expands, etching the computer program language-like inscriptions into the outer rim of the rune while reconstructing a very particular spot on the community college's campus grounds - in the auxiliary parking lots across the street from the college, just outside of the threat zone of the singularity, but that won't be for long if we don't move quick.

"Everyone stand on the rune," I order the girls. "This'll teleport us straight there."

So we crowd onto the rune - I've made it big enough for all four of us to stand in it without discomfort - and once we're all on it, I call out in a loud voice,

"MTD, online. Relocation in three, two, one!"

As I count down, bright flames suddenly spark and bloom up from the edges of the blue rune, which definitely catches the girls by surprise. Only the older Artoria stays calm - I think it's because she inherently knows that these flames pose no danger to us, as otherwise, it's completely normal to have the reaction of surprise and shock if you're experiencing this for the first time.

Right after I say "one", the flames engulf us all, smothering our vision and senses entirely as we all get swallowed up by these flames.

It's been a while since I used this. I've almost forgotten what this feels like.

Almost.


	15. Blue, Yellow, Black

The flames subside, and I open my eyes again, feeling my mind get flooded with information about our vicinity. Our landing point feels safe, but the atmosphere and everything else doesn't.

"Master," Artoria speaks out to me in a clear, firm voice as the four of us step off the teleportation rune and onto the cracked and scarred blacktop of the auxiliary parking lots just across from the main campus of King's Road Community College. "This is - "

" - dangerous, yeah I know," I finish her thought for her, scowling at our surroundings.

The flames that are now dying down from my dissipating teleportation rune aren't the only ones of its kind around here. All around us, on the sidewalks, in many of the parking lot spaces, and out on the outlying streets and buildings in the neighborhood around the campus like shops and houses, flames are dancing with eerie calmness, flickering like candles in a satanic ritual. I can smell the flames, even from out here, where there are no flames immediately near us - it's a smell that I've unfortunately gotten very well used to, more so than what the average human being should be.

But it's not just the flames that distort the local landscape. Said houses and shops and buildings are in disarray, either burning or showing severe signs of damage and vandalism, though obviously it's not just any ordinary burglar vandalism: windows torn out, glass shattered out onto the ground besides their original buildings, big gaping holes through their sides where presumably cars have been chucked through by something or someone, and bricks and other building debris spilled like blood onto the roads and adjacent lots. Nowhere else is this so immediately apparent than in the neighboring little strip mall where a few restaurants, a tax income return business, and a salon reside - it doesn't even really look like a strip mall anymore, and if you didn't know what it was beforehand like myself, you'd be hard-pressed to guess what it originally was before the singularity crashed into this area like a wrecking ball.

I take a look at my teammates - if it's appropriate for me to call them as such, because admittedly it's weird calling the girls my "teammates" - I guess that's a side-effect of playing too many co-op multiplayer video games. Artoria looks steadfast and calm, like she's seen this shit a million times, but Lily, naturally, being Artoria's younger and much greener self, is noticeably gripping the handle of Caliburn with increasing strength as time slowly goes on. Matthew, on the other hand -

"Matthew," I call out to her sharply, making sure that she can hear me. "What's wrong?"

Matthew is staring wide-eyed into the distance, in the direction of the school campus. There's nothing particularly interesting other than the ambient destruction and flamingly silent chaos that lays before her in her line of sight, but that doesn't stop her from having that look anyway.

Lily, who gets distracted by my calling out to Matthew, turns around to see what's up. "L-Lady Matthew, what's...? What's wrong? Is something the matter...?" she asks softly, quickly stepping over to her to see if she can be of any assistance.

"This...this singularity..." Matthew stumbles over her words a little, presumably due to the shock, "...it has appeared before. The year before, in fact. This was the same singularity that appeared..."

"What, are singularities like these only supposed to be one 'n done or something like that?" I ask, since I don't know too much about these kinds of magic phenomena; this is certainly my first time entering one of these.

"The singularities that have been showing up have never repeated themselves...once they are resolved, they are resolved for good," Matthew explains, her voice still shaking somewhat. "But...the thing with this singularity was that...when it first appeared, we were unable to resolve it."

"Oh. So it basically just stuck around, then."

"Maybe. Ms. Olga and I were speculating as to when we would see it again, but..." Matthew shakes her head, trying to recompose herself. "I certainly didn't expect it to show up...right here and now, that is..."

Judging by her reaction, I get the feeling that there's more to this singularity regarding Matthew than she lets off, but I'll reserve that question for now; I don't need to be picking apart people's bad memories at a time like this.

"Then you've been here before. What should we expect?" I ask her.

"Yes, so...this singularity appears to be a Holy Grail War that has gone completely wrong. The Servants who were part of the original Holy Grail War that this singularity's Grail War is based off have turned into corrupted versions of themselves. Most of them are assisting an a corrupted version of Artoria Pendragon, who is harboring the Holy Grail for reasons unknown, but one servant, Caster, resisted the corruption and was fighting to try to win the Holy Grail War anyway."

"Was..." I murmur, noting the time change in Matthew's diction, and she nods.

"This was a year ago, when my previous Master and I first investigated this singularity. Now, things can be very different...everything that I've said up until now is only what we knew back then."

"Then how do you know that this's the same singularity, if things could've changed since then - "

A loud, earthquake-like roar splits the air nearby, and a chasm of lava-like flames spawns near us, about thirty meters to our right, along the main street that runs north and south, down past the college campus; the chasm itself is about two hundred meters long, lacerating the street's left lanes without mercy, now allowing flames to spew out like magma and spill onto the broken asphalt nearby.

"...I just...know," Matthew whispers, eyeing the fiery chasm that's just kicked up with wide eyes of nervousness. "But I can also prove it with Dr. Roman's help."

"You can contact him?"

Nodding, my underclassman raises her left hand and turns it over, so that her wrist faces up. A small rune slides into view over her hand, and up projects a screen, not quite a hologram, but an image that looks digitally produced, though I can feel genuine magic from it, which means that it's not being produced by any sort of hybrid electronic medium. At first, it shows nothing, so Matthew speaks into it.

"Dr. Roman? Dr. Roman, do you read us?"

The screen flashes and statics once or twice before snapping itself together an image of a guy in a casual white lab coat with rolled-up sleeves, a plain green shirt that looks almost like a hospital patient gown anointed with the Chaldea Organization logo just beneath the upright collar, a laminated ID card hanging on a red necklace, and with creme orange hair tied up in a short ponytail. The odd color of his hair aside, he looks like he could be my age, probably younger. I honestly look young for my age; there've been times when even at this age, I've been mistaken for a high schooler, so who knows, he might be the same.

 _"Mash! Oh, good, you're already on the scene,"_ Dr. Roman says tensely, looking at Matthew while he busily types on a keyboard that's out of the image frame; judging by the perspective of the camera angle being shown, it seems like he's sitting at a computer station. He's speaking with a very slight English accent, but it's hardly noticeable, so it's easy to overlook. _"You must already know by now, but if you've called to confirm, you're in that same singularity that showed up a year ago."_

"Doctor, what's the situation like here now? Has anything changed?" Matthew demands to know. By this point, both Artoria's have joined us, but the elder Artoria is still keeping a wary eye out on our surroundings, with a clear look of disgusted vigil in her green eyes.

 _"Yes. Oh, is that Mr. Il I see?"_

I raise my hand in salutations. "Yeah, we're on site right now. Go on."

Dr. Roman clears his throat quickly to continue.

 _"Alright, listen up, all of you. Singularities like these usually have been showing up during various points in the past, throughout human history. For the better part of the last year, Matthew, along with other independent mages and Servants who happened to be summoned within those singularities, has been tasked to resolve those singularities and fix them to prevent them from altering the standard flow of time and human history, and thereby preserve the fate of humanity. But as you might guess, in order to resolve these Singularities, we needed to Rayshift Matthew back into the time periods of those Singularities - but now, it seems, starting with this one that you're all in now, these Singularities have stopped occurring in the past - and instead, they are popping up in the present."_

...I'm going to assume that, long story short, Matthew's been going back in time to resolve these Singularity things, but now for some reason, since the Singularities are starting to show up in the real world here, she doesn't need to do that anymore. Which is why we're here.

 _"It look like this Singularity's produced a Reality Marble so that it can exist in the present..."_ Dr. Roman continues, glancing up, also nervously, around on our image projection. _"Which is bad for a number of reasons...not to mention, it seems like the Reality Marble itself isn't very stable..."_

"An unstable Reality Marble...that explains it, then," Artoria murmurs darkly nearby. "We must not delay, Master. The instability of this Reality Marble means that time is not our friend. We must act quickly."

I nod at Artoria. I've done my magic research enough to know why an unstable Reality Marble is bad news bears. At least, I _think_ I have.

"But why has this Singularity appeared in Reality Marble form? And can you track down who's creating it?" Matthew asks.

 _"My best guess is because this Singularity can't take form in the present; maybe the Counter Force here's too strong, and if it is, it might make sense, considering how unstable of a Reality Marble this is. And as for who's creating it, I have no idea. It could be the Grail that this Singularity's tied to that's creating it, but...if that's the case, why is it projecting such a weak and unstable Reality Marble...?"_

I glance to my side at Matthew. "How have you gone around resolving the other Singularities over the past year, before this?" I ask my self-proclaimed underclassman.

"Usually by eliminating troublemakers and securing the Holy Grail that is tied to the Singularity in question. But...now with the changes to this Singularity, it might not be that easy or simple anymore..."

"Then I guess we should locate the Grail first. Whoever's stirrin' up trouble this time around's probably gonna be near it, right? Since they've gotta know that the Grail's kinda important."

"If the location of the Grail is what you seek, Master, I believe I know where it is..."

Artoria points off towards the northwest.

"I feel a very strange aura coming from that direction. It is...familiar, but if we are to assume that the Grail will be nearby other persons of interest, then perhaps this is a lead we can use."

"Then let's go for it. We'll call again if we need anything, Doc."

 _"Right; now that Mash's established contact with me, I can maintain connection through her and observe everything that's going on. I'll let you know if I've found anything else important that you might wanna know."_

"A'ight."

We get a move on, hurrying across the auxiliary parking lots in the direction that the elder Artoria has shown us. Now that Artoria's pointed it out to us, the looming, ominous aura certainly feels jarring, even in a world like this where _everything_ , even existence itself, seems to feel nauseating and icky...I liken it to wanting to take a shower because you just feel so damn dirty, even if there's no physical way to do so. The clanking of all the metal pieces of the girls' equipment and weapons at least makes the foot journey over to our next destination somewhat lively, even if no one else feels that way.

"Senpai," Matthew says to me as we're hurrying over - even when the girls are in all this heavy armor and carrying swords and a shield that are all just as big as themselves, if not bigger, we're all able to maintain a decent running pace. "Dr. Roman said that this is a Reality Marble that we've just entered. But even if it's a weak or an unstable one, how were you able to teleport us straight inside? That can't be possible normally, right? Unless you happen to be involved with the Reality Marble in question directly in one way or another..."

That's a good question, something that I didn't consider when I really should have.

"I'm not sure. I think I'll blame the overall instability of this Reality Marble," I say back, shrugging as we're running. "And I didn't know that this was a Reality Marble that we were gonna be hopping into; I certainly didn't feel anything different about our teleporting when we did it. Though, as soon as we landed, I kinda had a feeling that there was something off about this place..."

"What do you think about this Reality Marble, then, Senpai?"

I shake my head slowly.

"Personally, I think it's way too weak to be able to support itself on its own, for starters..." I mumble, loudly enough so that at least Matthew can hear. "Isn't the Holy Grail supposed to be like super powerful or something? If that's the case, then - "

"It is indeed an artifact of immense power - originally, it was the penultimate goal of standard Holy Grail Wars, the final prize for the last Master and Servant standing, one that could grant a single wish for both," Artoria calls from ahead of us, over her shoulder, briefly. "But...the Grail is not what it seemed to be. And I highly doubt that in a Holy Grail War like this, even with varying circumstances and settings, its malicious nature has turned for the better. If we are to happen upon it, Master, I strongly recommend that we take extreme caution."

"Yeah, I figured," I call back. "Somethin' like that, that can grant wishes like that - I dunno, I'm already a little bit hesitant to believe in them, but...I guess if Servants like you fought for them in the past, there's at least some validity to its existence. Across that bridge, we can use it to get over onto the other side."

We approach the bridge that spans over the street below us, since the street beneath curves downwards in a little depression. By this point, I'm starting to think that whatever it is that we're trying to looks for is situated somewhere in the big park that's across the street, to the west of the college campus grounds. That's better than finding the Grail and whoever else _on_ campus, since I sure as hell don't want the school wrecked. Not that I really need to worry about any of the property damage around here, since this is all contained within the Reality Marble itself, but given its instability, I'd rather not risk making any lethal assumptions and get badly surprised.

"U-Umm, A-Artoria!" Lily calls out to her elder self. Lily has been having trouble figuring out what to address her, since she's basically talking to herself, and admittedly, I'd imagine, anyway, that takes a bit of getting used to. "This - this feeling - do you think - "

"Yes, I concur; your instinct is telling you correctly," Artoria responds almost immediately. "But we must confirm it with our own eyes. Until then..."

"Will you be fine out there?" I ask Lily with concern; she hasn't stopped looking nervous ever since we got here; sometimes I swear she's shivering, even though, with all these flames and fiery magma streams randomly gooping out of the ground all around us, there is absolutely no excuse to feel cold.

"Y-Yes! I'll - I will fight my hardest for your sake, M-Master!" Lily says a little _too_ loudly, and then she drops her voice almost right after. "...I think..."

"The real question is, will you be fighting as well, Senpai?" Matthew asks me in kind, rather tensely.

"Yeah. If there's something I can do, then I'll get to work too. Otherwise, what'd be the point of me being here..."

"But...just in case anything happens, please don't hesitate to rely on us for your defense. Remember that if you die, both King Artoria and Miss Lily will disappear shortly after due to the fact that you cannot supply them with mana to sustain their spirits in this world."

"Right."

Hm, I'm a little bit more used to having to fight for myself than this. But I guess, in a sense, this is what I've wanted for a really long time; it's just a new experience, and there're always new things to do and learn. Such is the way of life in general...but I'm sure everyone knows that, one way or another.

* * *

After crossing the bridge and plunging into the big park where Artoria's sensing the surge of evil aura, we hurry past the small forest of trees, swing sets, picnic tables, and other miscellaneous ambient structures that would normally occupy the space of a family-friendly neighborhood park.

"I wonder if Caster survived..." I overhear Matthew murmuring to herself, the looming threat of whatever mysterious energy signature we're heading towards drawing nearer and nearer.

"Caster...the guy you said resisted the Corruption or whatever, right?"

"Right."

"What happened the last time you were here? And when you left, does time continue on in a singularity like this, even if it's...well, I actually don't know what happens when a singularity goes unresolved. Does a place like this even have its own consolidated time-flow?"

Matthew doesn't say anything, but as I'm waiting for her to give me an answer of some sort, I hear the heavy metal boots of Artoria clank to an abrupt halt.

"...as I thought..." she hisses tensely.

In the middle of this light forest that occupies much of this park next to the community college, in a little clearing of sorts where an open field used by park-goers to play tag football and soccer, stands a relatively short girl clad in what appears to be sinister black armor; but upon closer inspection, using the light that reflects off her from the flames that are dancing around along the perimeter of the clearing, the black armor and battle dress (if you could even call it that) are actually dark purple. Her armor and the intimidating dark blade that looks a little similar to Caliburn that she holds before her in a very king-like pose are both laminated with blood-red etchings and markings that glow in the dark, the ones on her gauntlets and her side armor flaps looking like the dancing flames themselves and the ones on her sword shaped almost like satanic symbols that run down the length of the side of her blade. She also sports what looks like a heavy metal visor of the same color palette that covers her eyes for some reason, but what's really intriguing is that there's nothing to support it to keep it held over her face, like some kind of goggle straps or anything. Well, whatever, let's just chalk it up to the power of magic. After all, it's true what they say, magic really can do anything, provided that you work hard or long enough on it to make it a reality.

It's certainly quite a sight to behold, and if I might speak in a aesthetic sense, I think the design here for this person whom we're approaching now is quite fantastic. But complementing your enemy is just about as effective as telling your pet cat to stop hiding underneath your bed, so never mind the cool design for now, because what stands behind her is immediately more valuable. Because there, floating in the air right underneath a _lamppost_ , of all things, whose light is burning with fire rather than an actual electrical light, is a small, golden chalice, emitting a soft, subtle golden aura about it.

Honestly, I feel a little disappointed, somehow.

As we step foot into the clearing, passing by a few batches of flame dancing on the grass remorselessly, I see the armored hands of the person in the way of the Grail clench the top of her blade's handle just a little bit more tightly, and as we come to a halt, with the girls all preparing their weapons to confront her, the girl in black armor gives a small little chuckle. I immediately recognize the tone of voice - and it's the exact same as the elder Artoria's.

"You have returned, I see..." she croaks, the chuckle gone from her tone now. "And with myself, even..."

"E-Explain the meaning of this!" Lily shouts out, clearly distraught and terrified at what she's witnessing as she clenches her own sword handle of Caliburn. "Who are you?! And why have you assumed our identity?!"

"Assumed? Nay...the one in the blue, and you, the one in yellow, and I, the one in black...we are all but the same," she replies. "How amusing, that we should all stand in one place...together. It seems that this Holy Grail War is truly beyond the ordinar - "

 **"WHERE IS RITSUKA-SENPAI!?"**

A sudden bellow the likes of which I haven't heard in a quick minute reverberates through the air like a set of loudspeakers from right next to me, and out from my left stomps Matthew, who holds her gigantic cross-shield furiously in one hand. I didn't think it was possible for Matthew to yell like that, but like I said before, you learn something new every day.

"Ritsuka...?" the Artoria in black murmurs back, as if in thought. "Ah, the one with the white uniform...I see that you have brought along a different Master. Your resilience is admirable..."

 **"WHERE IS SHE!?"** Matthew screams again. She's legit pissed - one look at her, and it's obvious that whoever this Ritsuka-Senpai was, presumably my predecessor, was really close to her. Matthew's eyes are wide and piercing, her hands are both balled into fists that are shaking harder than a seismometer, and that shaking is transferring to her cross-shield as well. And not only that, but she keeps screaming. **"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE DID LEV TAKE HER!?"**

At this, black Artoria frowns slowly but deeply.

"Speak to me no more of that man," she speaks slowly and softly, raising her own darkened, cursed sword up from the grass. "I have nothing to tell you in regards to him. If you have come back here solely to ask of me his whereabouts, I would rather kill you here again, while I have this second chance...to finish what was started!"

While she's speaking, the Artoria in black has been slowly pulling her black sword behind her hip, and all four of us take notice of it so that when she does swing it up to release a sort of jetstream of mutated black and dark purple energy towards us, all of us immediately spring into action. Matthew steps strongly in front of me, plants her cross-shield down, and reaches back all at the same time to pull me in close to her to ensure that her shield covers the entirety of my body. The sheer strength of this blast of energy ripples the air around on either side of us; if a normie human like myself were to get caught in it, I get the feeling that I'd be disintegrated without a second thought.

Both our Artoria's have swiftly evaded the energy blast, and roaring with her golden Caliburn in her hands, Lily blasts off the grass to charge straight at Artoria Alter and engage her when she still looks to be recovering from her energy blast that she's sent downrange at me and Matthew, while blue Artoria flanks around so that when Alter turns to face Lily, she can strike from the flank and put Alter in the worst 2v1 situation possible.

Artoria Alter, seeing that her two clones are moving in on her to sandwich her, thrusts her sword up into the air to block Lily's strong overhead swing, and the terrific crash of steel and steel, magically charged ones, at that, tears the air apart as two opposing forces of magic collide into each other like two opposing tidal waves headed straight for each other and crashing against one another. However, Lily isn't used to such a strong knockback, and she almost loses her grip on Caliburn, barely stopping it from simply flying out of her hands wholesale, which leaves her extremely vulnerable to a follow-up attack from Artoria Alter, who steps in to go right for the killing blow, aiming for her heart to jam her dark blade through; and blue Artoria still isn't close enough to intervene properly to save her younger self.

Aiming down the magic reticule that floats over the iron sights of my AR-10 semi-automatic rifle, I aim for the visor sitting over Alter's face and eyes and pull the trigger. The muzzle brake of my rifle flashes with blue gunpowder exhaust flame that emits in a nice and compact flash that appears for a split second before disappearing from the air, and a single bullet casing flies out of the action and onto the agonizingly warm grass to my side. The energy bullet I shoot slams straight on target against the right eye of Alter's visor, knocking it clean off - and sure enough, as if her golden hair tied up in a bun in the exact same way as blue Artoria's wasn't already enough of a dead giveaway, Artoria Alter's face is exactly the same as the other two Artorias'; the only differences would be her noticeably paler skin and her golden eyes, as opposed to the others' green eyes.

Alter flinches hard from this unexpected attack; after all, I'm sure that she's not exactly accustomed to someone attacking her with magic bullets like this, since very few mages, let alone Servants, perhaps, are used to fighting against people like me who use magically powered firearms. Glaring in my direction, Alter hisses under her breath, so I give her another bullet to eat for her trouble, and this second bullet pegs her against the middle of her forehead instead, which would, under any other circumstance, a clean headshot kill - but it appears that her magic resistance is something to be reckoned with, since my energy bullet simply spreads out and disperses the moment it makes contact with her skin. So unfortunately, it would appear that my bullets by themselves have no dangerous effect on her.

But they do succeed in buying Lily that moment of time that she needs to recover herself and go back to applying pressure, and at the same time, blue Artoria closes in and attacks with an initial quick thrust, aiming for Alter's chin, possibly her neck, even. So Alter has to turn around and block the hit, swiftly raising her sword with the blade pointed diagonally downwards in an awkward angle to defend herself, and the powerful thrust jams Alter's grip out of place in return. Just when Lily bounds in again, this time with a sideways swing to hit her square in the back of her armor, a powerful wave of black energy erupts from the grass immediately around her, billowing up and throwing the two Artoria's away from her to protect herself.

But as soon as the black energy subsides to expose her again, I'm ready with my magic rifle to buy my Servants the time they'll need to get back on their feet again, pulling the trigger of my rifle while Matthew firmly holds her ground in front of me so that I can use her as good cover, peeking out from her side in a kneeling position so that I can make the most out of my shots with a stable firing stance. Even though this is probably her first time fighting against a magical firearms user, Alter somehow tracks each of my bullets and where I aim them in respect to her body and deflects each of them away, though she doesn't block the first one that jabs her in the left cheek rather strongly, judging by the amount of flinch that she shows.

I count down the bullets in my head as I shoot them, and as soon as I hit ten, I cease fire and hit the magazine release that drops my magazine; rather than dropping and hitting the ground, a small blue rune appears right underneath it and swallows it whole, making it disappear from sight. But as soon as I pull out another full magazine from another blue rune that appears next to my hand, Alter, clearly annoyed at how annoying my own weapon is in her fight against the two Artoria clones, which I'm sure is tough enough on its own already, even if Lily is only an amateur compared to her other two clones, blasts off the ground herself to engage me, and Matthew roars back and takes a step back to make sure that she can react as quickly as possible to Artoria Alter in case she tries to play it tricky and attack from another angle.

It's at this moment that a sudden crash, followed by a roar that sounds like it could've come straight out of a horror video game, interrupts us. We all look to our right at the interruption - and there, emerging from the small little forest whom we'd crossed to get here ourselves, is an eight-foot-something holding a giant teethed blade that looks like it's been forged out of dinosaur bone. This giant's entire silhouette is blackened out, emitting a horrible black smoke or vapor in its wake, except for its eyes, which are definitely glowing a shade of red that can only mean one thing: murder.

I turn to it.

"You two, handle that one on your own," I call out to them quickly while keeping my own eyes focused in this newcomer while I slip my AR-10 back away into its rune and instead flip out my pair of .44 Magnum Desert Eagles. "Matthew, you're on me. We'll handle this guy instead..."


	16. Hercules

My ears deafen with the sound of Desert Eagle handgun reports that echo through the trees. It's an open forest out here - granted, not a _big_ one, but the size of the forest isn't what matters right now - so I can get away with not wearing some form of ear protection like earplugs.

As .44 Magnum bullet casings fly behind me in the air while I dash past the trees of the forest, I bounce off the humid grass, land my feet against the heavy tree trunk that stands in my way, and use it as a springboard to change my direction on a dime. I've successfully nabbed its attention with my guns, so now I'm in the process of luring it away from the Sabers so that they can duke it out on their own without interruption - assuming that this guy is our only interruption of the night, which might not be the case.

The moment I push off the tree trunk with my feet, I can hear a fantastic splintering and crashing of a tree trunk getting split in half - the huge Shadow Servant's just leapt forward and swung his giant monstrosity of a blade at me - it doesn't take a genius to know that the tree I've just used as a springboard's been decapitated, if decapitation is possible on a tree. As I'm hurtling through the air with my own momentum, I check where Matthew is - she's still trying to keep up, trying to keep her distance from the mad Shadow Servant - or at least that's what Matthew called him - who's hot on my tail but also trying to regroup with me at the same time. It seems like both of us are a little too fast and agile for her, but then again considering what she's carrying, that probably isn't a surprise.

Even though I haven't been to this park much, I still remember the rough layout - because of my relative size to my opponent's, it's better if I stay within the confines of the forest; no matter how agile and fast this Shadow Servant is, he'll constantly have to deal with the fact that due to his size, his maneuverability will always be worse than mine. The trees are _his_ obstacles, not mine; in fact, they're my allies, valuable barriers and cover that, even if they're one-time use each against an opponent like him, are invaluable to extending my life nonetheless. In fights like these where lives are put on the line, even just one extra opportunity can be enough to determine a fight.

Now I've got that one Eminem song stuck in my head...but now's not the time to be playing background music.

I hear the Shadow Servant behind me pounce; for having such a large body frame, he's insanely quiet and swift - while I can hear him approach just fine, it's like I'm dealing with an assassin, someone who's trained in the arts of swift movement. So as soon as I land back down on the humid grass, I immediately push off again, and this time his greatsword slams down where I landed just a moment ago, smashing up dirt, torn tufts of grass, and soil.

Landing again on my feet against the grass, I skid hard backwards and empty out both of my handguns at the Shadow Servant, only to watch my rounds ping off his body with no result whatsoever; not even my magic bullets can pierce his body. Which is weird, because his body shows no sign of magic resistance, meaning that he doesn't rely on magic barriers or anything to nullify them; rather, his body is just too strong to be affected by mere bullets. Once I've spent the bullets, I snap the slides that have popped open with my thumbs and slip them back into their runes that take them out of sight - obviously they're not going to be of any help to me against this particular opponent.

I watch as the enraged Shadow Servant roars just before leaping up into the air, raising his serrated greatsword high up into the air over his head to pounce on me and presumably slice my body in half. The fact that his body is just too strong for magic bullets is, at the moment, my biggest obstacle.

Then let's try to break through that armor, see how tough it really is.

 _"Senpai!"_

Before I make a move, my eyes dart towards the shrill scream, and Matthew, also bursting off the ground, skids hard against the warm and hot grass and brakes just in time to raise her cross-shield up to guard against the Shadow Servant's jumping attack. The resulting clash of steel on steel (or maybe not?) is horrendous; it would be enough to blast out the ears of any normal human being, that's for sure.

Just in case the attack is a lot stronger than Matthew can handle, I throw out a quick barrier with my left hand, a few frames of time just before Matthew raises her cross-shield. Because I don't have time to strengthen and reinforce the barrier to make it stronger and more durable, the Shadow Servant's attack cracks through it easily like a baseball flying through glass, rendering my efforts completely useless, and Matthew basically has to take the brunt of the force anyway, and she shrieks underneath the sheer force. But sure enough, even with a slim bodyframe like hers, Matthew manages to hold, though her knees are slowly starting to bend and buckle underneath the mad Servant's sheer brute force.

 _"Th-That's Heracles!"_ both Matthew and I hear Dr. Roman's voice yelling through Matthew's projection magic...somewhere. _"Mash, that's the Shadow Berserker Caster warned us about to stay clear of when you were here last year! Why's_ he _here_ now, _of all times?!"_

Heracles? Oh, Hercules. I glance briefly up at the maddened Servant who's towering over the two of us, pressing his greatsword down against Matthew's huge cross-shield. His whole body is black - the corruption or whatever's turned him into nothing but a silhouette, like a blackened-out portrait of someone, but there's steam hissing from where his mouth should be. Looks a little different from the Greek mythology books I've read...

I raise my right hand up at Hercules's head as Matthew groans and whimpers underneath the overwhelming power of the Shadow Servant. Over Hercules's face paints a blue rune - a rune with a set of crosshairs planted in it. Hercules himself can see it plainly, growing a little cross-eyed so that he can see what the hell's forming in front of his face. So I show him - I snap my fingers, and I cause an explosion to go off right in his face with a concentrated burst of mana. It's not meant to be a strong attack - it's obvious that magic doesn't affect him very much, so I just focus on packing enough power into the attack to knock the Servant back. And by enough power, I mean _too much power_.

The force of the explosion I spawn throws both Matthew and me backwards; it obviously doesn't knock Hercules back as far as we are, but that's just as well, since now with this, we've put some distance in between us again. Since I expect the explosion to throw us violently backwards, I recover instantly from the knockback and catch Matthew and her cross-shield, cushioning her impact and applying my weight downwards to brake harder until we hit a quick stop before I pull her back up to her feet.

"Are you a'ight?" I quickly ask her, and Matthew nods, though her arms are still shaking due to the aftershock of putting so much energy and strain into them to resist Hercules's strength. "Back me up if you can, then. I'm gonna try to take it to him."

"But he's dangerous, Senpai! Are you sure - "

"Just cover any potential holes in my offense if you see any. I'll do the heavy hitting. And yes, I'm sure."

Focusing my mana to suppress it, I passively trigger my presence concealment skill. Maybe as a Berserker, Hercules will have a harder time knowing where I am. Making as little noise as possible and keeping as low of a profile as I can, I sprint back over to Hercules, who's since blasted out of the explosion smoke that I've created back at me at around the same time. Just as we're about to meet, Hercules draws back his greatsword to swing it again at me, but I quicken my step, focusing my concentration into my feet to perform an instant movement and warp behind Hercules, timing it just when he's in the middle of swinging his blade so that he can't redirect his swing midway.

But Hercules does pivot on a dime and faces me just a moment after I turn around to face him, meaning that he's got the reflexes to counter my instant movement, so my agility and maneuverability can't be used as weapons against him either. He continues the momentum of his greatsword swing by twisting his hands up over his head and then proceeding to drop it back down on my head again in a guillotine swing like before, but this time I just sidestep it, unfazed by all the dirt and soil that gets kicked up in its wake. It's a hell of a lot of debris that hits the side of my body and face, but by itself debris isn't dangerous, so I don't have to pay it any heed.

Instead, before Hercules can rip his huge weapon out of the ground, I raise my right hand up with my index and middle fingers extended. A small flash of light shines silently in between the tips of my two fingers, and I drop my hand down in a similar fashion. A very sharp but quick _shing!_ noise effect pops when I do this, followed by a dull streak of white light that traces the movement of my fingers as I drop them down in a slashing motion. The flash of light collides with Hercules's huge arm that's probably as big as my whole body, if not bigger, like steel on steel, just like the blades of the Artoria's I can hear constantly clashing in the foreground somewhere.

While it doesn't make a dent in his arm, it does knock his arm just a little bit off his sword. Sensing the threat of my attack, the Corrupted Hercules roars, throwing his right fist out at me in a lightning-fast punch instead of opting for his greatsword. Rather than block it, I hold my ground - and tank it. Turning my left shoulder and sprouting a rune against it, I ram my shoulder against his punch to counter it, but while my rune holds, the sheer strength in difference causes Hercules to immediately force my feet to skid against the grass at least six or so meters - and not only that, but his power simply shatters my barrier rune, though at least my shoulder is intact.

The forest fills with the echoing roars of the Shadow Berserker again, and Hercules once again lunges in at me, unrelenting. I think I can cut my way through his monstrous armor of a body with my Knifetouch, but do I want to risk getting my head smashed in or cut off finding out? I don't have the time to answer myself, focusing instead on hitting the deck to duck underneath his horizontal swing that would have diced me cleanly in two, and as I drop my profile, I slam my palm against the ground, planting a large rune into the ground, another explosive trap rune that sports another set of crosshairs that locks into place like a rotating gear underneath the two of us. As soon as the rune is planted, Hercules, finding it easier to attack me with a kick rather than using his blade, throws his bare right foot out that would probably kick my head clean off, so I throw myself backwards, rolling with my lunge back up to my feet and kicking off to launch myself up into the air towards the cover of the trees around me before snapping my fingers again and causing the explosive trap rune to blow up right underneath Hercules's feet. This time, the rune I've planted is much more powerful and potent; it creates a sizeable fireball in the middle of this small little forest that envelops the Shadow Servant briefly, though I'm sure that won't make a dent on his body whatsoever.

It's at this time that Matthew, charging in to cover me so that Hercules doesn't constantly chase after me, flies through the air with a power-jump of her own and drives the bottom tip of her cross-shield down against the back of Hercules's head while the explosion is occupying his attention, getting a free hit in on him before pushing off the back of his head with her shield and skidding away. His attention diverted, Hercules pivots, tears his cleaver-sword out of the grass with his pivot momentum, and swings mightily back down at Matthew again, but this time, now that she knows just how strong his hits are, Matthew braces properly for the impact and blocks the swing much more readily, though it still knocks her back a good few feet. Hercules manages to get a few good swings in that batter my self-proclaimed underclassman around before I return to the scene, descending down upon him like a stereotypical ninja. I guess Presence Concealment does work on him...maybe.

Slashing down the whole length of his body, perfectly down the middle, I immediately pull away, bracing for a follow-up counter that will surely come, and sure enough, Hercules, seemingly unfazed by this attack that would normally cut anything else that didn't have such tough armor for skin in half, turns violently again, deeming me the higher threat and roaring for the eighth time or whatever to beat me to a bloody pulp for sure this time.

I still have the feeling that my Knifetouch _can_ eventually get past his armor, but clearly it's just not effective enough a skill or weapon to end this fight as quickly and efficiently as possible in my favor. Firepower is what I need against this guy; since he's so keen on just trying to hit me over and over like a stubborn battering ram, I'll just have to crush the ram itself until it gives in. It's probably gonna be like trying to hammer a stone to dust with nothing but your fists, but if your fists are strong enough, they're probably better than trying to use a knife to do the same thing. It doesn't matter by this point about how mana-efficient it gets, against this guy, smart thinking and efficient tactics are rendered useless.

When Hercules's next swing comes in, I block it. But it's not the usual rune-blocking that I've done before. In fact, I don't use a rune - the moment the teethed edge of the Shadow Servant's weapon is about to hit my upraised right arm, I burst my mana at that exact point where I would have built a rune to protect myself. I channel so much mana into that one point that the mana concentration can't sustain itself without a vessel, thereby exploding with an invisible force so potent that it pushes Hercules's weapon away, effectively parrying it. The invisible and relatively quiet explosion of mana is enough to carve out a small crater beneath my feet, blasting the soil and grass away from us. Hercules certainly doesn't expect a puny human like me to be able to deflect his sword with force like that, and so his grip falters just a little in his huge hand. But just a slight alteration in the way a swordsman holds his weapon can mean the difference between being able to use it properly or not, and Hercules, as mad as he is as a Berserker, is no different - not that he'd show any reaction himself.

Matthew comes back in right after I parry Hercules's attack and slams her cross-shield Captain America-style square into the back of Herc's left leg, aiming at the valley of the back of his knee in an attempt to force him to kneel. While not strong enough, Matthew's efforts do make his knee buckle ever so slightly, and that's enough of a distraction to cause him to take his attention off me, leaving himself wide open for a few crucial frames of time - or, in other words, one-sixtieths of a second - that I need to decide what I'm going to do.

When Hercules's dark eyes turn back to me, he finds me no longer where he found me standing when I parried his last attack. Instead, I'm already behind him, on the same side as Matthew. Three crosshair runes are already planted against his back, and together, Matthew and I back away quickly as the three runes go off in rapid succession. These explosions are the strongest I've produced so far this fight, and they singe our backs as we retreat to get out of their killzones.

"D-Did that do it?!" Matthew shouts over the burning flames of the explosion - I deliberately make it so that the flames produced by my explosive runes extinguish themselves quickly, since I live in an area where brush fires are a huge threat, as they are pretty much throughout the state of California, so having long-lasting magic flames is not a great idea. But even before Matthew finishes shouting, we can both see the looming dark silhouette amidst the trees standing back up from the aftermath of the explosions, though clearly the explosions have deterred him from giving chase to us, at least not immediately like usual.

"Not quite, it looks like..." I mutter quietly, pulling my Desert Eagles back out and dropping their empty mags out to replace them with fresh ones while the two of us watch Hercules slowly stand back up and turn back to us.

"Those were really strong explosions, but he could even resist those...?" Matthew moans softly. "Caster really wasn't lying, then...can we even beat him?"

I cock the slides of my handguns.

"Only one way to find out..."

Hercules roars again at that exact moment. Talk about timing.

Gripping my pistols tightly, I dash off the ground to reengage. As we're sprinting straight for each other, the guns in my hands begin to glow, emitting red and black light for the gun in my right, and blue and white for the gun in my left. I snap them up and start spamming the triggers, aiming in Herc's general direction. Not knowing what I'm shooting at him, Hercules raises his arm over his face to block the shots that are headed towards his face so that he can keep eye contact with me, but the bullets I shoot at him aren't bullets - they're more like grenades, because the moment they touch him, they explode violently, a lot more violently than he expects, since the last things I shot at him out of these were magic bullets that didn't do jack shit to him.

Still, he charges through them anyway, and I skirt around him as his sword swings by me, dangerously missing me by a few inches as I snap off another few explosive bullets at him at the side of his head. Hercules roars in annoyance and goes Hulk-Smash onto the ground where I am, but I jump into the air and plant a solidified rune in midair so that I can jump off it, emptying my guns down below to pepper the Berserker Servant's head and face with explosive bullets. Hercules tries to swat me out of the air, but I redirect quickly by forming another rune as I'm upside down in the air and push off so that I spike myself down to the ground, twisting myself in midair with the dexterity of a cat falling down from a high tree branch to safely land on my feet, snapping the empty magazines out of my guns with my thumbs on the magazine release buttons.

Just when Hercules goes in on me for another megaton swing of his serrated greatsword, Matthew, letting out a shrill scream of her own, chucks her cross-shield at our opponent, and her shield barely passes over me as I drop to the ground, getting there in time to punt the Shadow Berserker in the face. It doesn't serve as a distraction whatsoever, though, because he just swings his sword anyway even after it bounces off his nose or something, forcing me to dash back.

Watching his sword get jammed into the ground briefly gives me an idea, so after I reload my guns rapidly and throw forward the slides, I snap off an explosive bullet at him to keep his attention focused on me and not Matthew who comes in to retrieve her rebounded shield, and Hercules swings and swings and swings, but I dodge and dodge and dodge. Hercules may have undeniably superior power and strength, but the inability to think about his attacks due to his Mad Enhancement means that outside of maybe a few feints or instinctive dodges, he can't think out a battle steps in advance, and he's just prone to smashing, smashing, and more smashing. Once you get over the threat of his brute power, dodging becomes easy - granted, probably not everyone can just keep dodging Hercules's swings indefinitely, and I could very well be one of those people, because one mistake, one bad dodge, and I'm done.

But I manage to bait Hercules into swinging his greatsword down into the ground again, and the moment the black teeth of his dark sword staples itself into the grass, I empty the bullets I've been saving with my new magazines right up at Herc's face - not only that, but I pump another surge of mana into my guns through my hands to enhance the explosive power of my bullets even more, to the point where I'm physically feeling myself get drained of energy with each bullet I fire. But I power through, and each explosive bullet I hit tears through Hercules's face, causing him to scream, rather than roar. He finally lets go of his greatsword, and once I've expended all my current ammunition, I know it's time to go in.

Putting my guns away in their magical storage, I pounce: remembering where I've hit every single explosive bullet, I slash both pairs of index and middle fingers against those exact same spots, as they've been softened up by all the magical explosive firepower I've been applying; they're definitely a lot easier to cut through than anywhere else now, but even then I can't completely cut through them.

Hercules is mad as fuck now, since now he knows that I'm a legitimate threat and not just some pushover scrub of a Master who doesn't know what the hell he's doing challenging a monstrosity of a Servant like him. Even without his greatsword, he fights back: snarling, he pivots masterfully as always as I pounce to kick me out of the air with a brutal roundhouse that could break my spine in half if it connects, so I'm forced to disengage from my own attack and parry the kick in midair; however, this means that, since I'm not grounded to anchor myself, the recoil force of the mana focus parry sends me in a direction that I don't want to go, which is straight against a nearby tree. Hercules seizes this opportunity to chase after me immediately and slam his hand against where I've landed against the tree, smashing the tree easily in half like he's tearing his hand through plastic wrap.

But I'm already behind him, kneeling against the ground. even as the tree that Hercules has smashed in half falls to the ground, no less than a dozen slashes of dull light ping over him, all concentrated into one spot: his face.

With all the explosive damage that his face and head have sustained up until this point, Hercules, his face tenderized and softened by the repeated magical blasts of explosive bullets, finally feels the cuts that I've stacked against his face start gouging into his tough skin, and I hear the drawing of blood behind me as my delayed Knifetouch slashes hit their marks in such rapid succession that they sound like they've all hit at the same time, but to have them do that would be too tough right now, so this is the best I can manage.

Hercules roars again and turns around, still not dead from what should have been lethal slashes to his face that cut deep enough to pierce his brain, but I guess Hercules's skin is just too tough to count him out. But even as he turns around, I'm still faster. With the tips of my fingers glowing white again with the same dull, lifeless light, I immediately stab my right two fingers straight into Hercules's right knee, and this gets him to kneel as the sharp and sudden pain of my fingers thrusting a stabbing force into his knee isn't what he expects either, even if it doesn't pierce it. As Hercules collapses onto his knee, I flick my fingers up, throwing up another vicious streak of white light into the air that cuts up through Hercules's head, and as Hercules's body is recoiling backwards from the uppercut slash, I instant-move behind him with another thrusting slash that cuts horizontally through his abdomen, which is possible because I've gotten him to kneel first - if I hadn't done that, then it would've been impossible for me to even reach his stomach properly with this kind of an attack due to his sheer height. I stomp hard on my left foot, turn the way I've come, and land three giant slashes that cover the entire height of the corrupted Berserker before passing through him again back onto the original side with another instant-movement slash.

This last slash forces Hercules to slouch his head forward, as if to topple forward against his face, but before he does faceplant against the ground, I turn around one last time and perform another instant movement slash, this time aiming for his forehead to strike at his brain. While the rest of his body I couldn't cut, his head I can, due to all the damage I've racked up against it up until now.

 _"Raishin Mah-haken."_

The words barely escape my mouth as I end up back on the other side for a second time, a streak of dull white light tracing my path through the corrupted servant.

I've always wanted to try out that combo on someone. I guess I got that wish tonight, or so I think to myself as I hear the fantastic splash of blood gush from the laceration I've just inflicted straight through the skull of the corrupted Hercules, followed by the inevitable _thud_ of his heavy body hitting the deck.

"Senpai!"

I turn around to find Matthew hurrying back over to me, this time with Fou practically nipping at her feet.

"Senpai, all you alright?" she asks hurriedly, trying to check me for any possible injuries I may have suffered during that fight.

"Nah, I think I'm good," I sigh tiredly, shaking my eyes a little as my vision clouds over for a moment - that's drained me of a _lot_ of mana, and while I've gotten used to this feeling, that doesn't mean it still doesn't negatively affect my future performance. I take off my glasses that've stayed on my face with the help of a small little rune that I've made just to make sure that my glasses don't just fall off randomly during an intense battle like that to wipe them once my vision comes back.

"That fight took a lot of mana from you, didn't it," Matthew says with vivid concern, watching me wipe my glasses with the bottom of my shirt.

"Yeah, but I don't think I had a choice there," I reply in turn. Setting my glasses back on my face, I take a glance over at the corpse of Hercules, which is stirring with hazy white smoke drifting up from where its head should be.

Wait a minute, it's moving?

"Fuck, he's still alive?" I hiss, admittedly a little annoyedly.

 _"It's his Noble Phantasm, August!"_ Dr. Roman pipes through again. _"It's called God Hand, and it basically allows him to revive eleven more times after getting defeated!"_

A dozen lives? What is he, a cat? Wait, there _is_ that whole Greek myth about him where he had to go and complete twelve impossible labors...is God Hand a reference to that? It's gotta be, I guess...

"So...we gotta defeat him eleven more times, then?" I mutter, rolling my eyes because I'm _definitely_ not in the mood to have to kill him eleven more times...if I even _can_.

 _"Yes. That's why Caster advised us not to - "_

"Okay, this Caster dude from before you guys met me sounds like a chill guy and all, but right now he ain't here by the looks of it. Dr. Roman, what happens if I kill Hercules while he's in the middle of reviving? Does that count as taking off another life of his?"

 _"Er...uh, I actually don't know - "_

I crack my knuckles through my black fingerless gloves. It's time to find out.


	17. Salter

It's a somewhat strange revelation to me that I've just had to blow up the regenerating body of Hercules eleven more times just to get him to die for good. Well, all that matters is that he won't bother us anymore, but I might be randomly thinking about this for a while. Maybe. I've dwelled on stranger things before.

"It sounds like they're still fighting! We should hurry, Master!" Matthew insists.

I just smile quickly over at her. I wonder why she feels the need to say that aloud when the two of us are already running over to the clearing in the small little forest in this park, in their direction. Wouldn't that already insinuate that we're going over there to see what's going on for ourselves? I try not to think about that too hard as we near our destination.

Thanks to the light of that little lamppost that's hanging in the middle of the small clearing, both Matthew and I can see the three Saber-faces still duking it out ferociously. Mana bursts from their sword flings have been conducting landscaping work on the grass around them, something that a real landscaper would certainly _not_ call landscaping. With the number of lesions and troughs cut through the soil and the sheer amount of grass and dirt tufts that have been tossed about, I get the sense that it's just going to be a nightmare trying to fight inside that clearing that's in the process of getting plowed by swords. But my own Servants are still fighting in there against that evil version of Artoria, so what excuse have I got?

On second thought, I'm actually amazed that the lamppost is still standing there. How _hasn't_ it gotten whacked down by this point?

As we enter the edge of the clearing, I stop to pull out my AR-10 rifle. Reloading it, I inspect the conditions of my Servants: Lily, naturally, is looking a lot more fatigued and wounded, with a _lot_ of dirt smudge marks on her arms, cheeks, and all over her breastplate and gauntlets; she's also profusely sweating all down her scalp, with the cascading little streams of sweat dripping down onto the top of her chest armor; her ponytail still stubbornly holds together, though, and despite these various signs of fatigue, she's still fighting strong, trading blows with Artoria Alter while the older Artoria swoops in from Alter's right flank with a strong leftwards horizontal cut to hit her in the right hip, in the weak spot of Alter's armor that divides her armor flaps resting against her sides and thighs and the bottom of her chestplate.

Artoria Alter drags her dark version of Excalibur sideways off Lily's Caliburn viciously, with enough strength to both push Lily away from her to give her the space that she needs to block Artoria's swing and successfully blocks it, locking blades with her yet again, as I'm sure. Artoria is faring better, but how much better is the question, as she looks similar to Lily in terms of signs of fatigue, but what's definite is the fact that Artoria still looks more focused and composed - she lacks the certain degree of desperation that Lily exudes, most likely due to her inexperience in battle compared to these other versions of herself - and I'm sure the fact that she's most likely fighting an evil version of her older self is giving her the acid trip of a lifetime. Maybe. Do Servants expect to fight evil versions of themselves? I don't know the extent to which the FATE Summoning System makes things, but if summoning evil versions of Servants is a common occurrence, then I guess Lily should have anticipated this to some extent.

Evil Artoria, however, is faring the worst out of all of them - but if a single streak of blood running down from a tiny cut on her right cheek is all that separates her from the other two in terms of damage taken, then that's not saying much. She's still fighting just as hard as Artoria and Lily combined, but I guess that just makes sense if she wants to keep up a 1v2 fight.

"You have not yet answered me!" Artoria bellows while her Excalibur is pressing defiantly against its darker counterpart. "How have you been summoned here? And what is your purpose in this singularity?"

"And what is the use divulging that to you, King of Knights?" Artoria Alter sneers back with a slight scowl of scorn, but before she can say more, I, seeing this as a chance to open her up to more attacks for my Servants, pull the trigger of my rifle and peg Alter in the side of the head with another magic energy bullet. Just like before, my bullet disperses immediately and explodes into misty blue vapor before quickly evaporating away, the magic resistance that she has easily neutralizing my attack. But just like before, the damage that my bullet would do is irrelevant in the context of providing a distraction significant enough to break her concentration, but Alter still holds firm, probably because she's sensed me and Matthew reentering the field to gang up on her again.

Lily returns, lunging back in to attack Alter again from the back, aiming the tip of Caliburn straight in the center of her enemy's back to see if Caliburn can pierce Alter's armor. Alter can't dodge the attack, but Caliburn indeed does get stopped short thanks to her black armor, and before Artoria can slide her Excalibur off and smack Alter in the face with the bottom of the handle, Alter clenches her teeth and releases a burst of black and sinister red mana that swarms around her like a force field, throwing both Artoria and Lily away again for a second time that I've personally seen. The mana burst carves out yet another small crater in the ground around Alter's feet - which explains all these small craters pock-marking the clearing everywhere.

Wasting no time after throwing my Servants off her, Artoria Alter quickly turns to me and starts booking it towards me and Matthew. Seeing this, I quickly snap my rifle back up and start shooting, while Matthew digs her feet in and hunches slightly over to anchor herself better into the ground to better serve as my cover; nine bullets fire off, but all nine of them either get smacked away by the unrelenting force of Alter's Dark Excalibur or just go _poof_ against her body due to her magic resistance.

"Master, get behind me!" Matthew yells dramatically - even though I'm already behind her, she says that because I'm not fully shielded by her shield with the way I've been shooting out from behind her, so I shove my rifle back into its magic rune storage and pull behind her, just in time before Alter clangs her sword against Matthew's cross-shield.

"Get out of my sight, child," I can hear Alter hiss as I pull out my pair of .44 Magnum Desert Eagles again in the hopes that my explosive bullets can fare better against the second of our two enemies. "You will not stop me as you had before..."

 _"I will!"_ Matthew vehemently shouts back, right in Alter's face. _"I will, and you won't be taking another Master away from me again!"_

"Hmph. You believe that I have any significant connections with that man?"

I stick my right Desert Eagle, Mustang, over Matthew's right shoulder, pointing the muzzle right at Alter's face, and pull the trigger.

It's not an explosive bullet, because at point-blank range, the explosive nature of my magic rounds are so powerful that they'd hurt both me _and_ Matthew, and they'd cause collateral damage back to my handgun itself, which I definitely don't want. So all I end up doing is throwing a big hunk of magic-reinforced lead at Alter's face. The .44 Magnum round crashes into her nose, and Matthew and I both watch as her nose gets caved in and squirts out a moderate amount of blood from the impact of my magic-reinforced bullet. I guess with magic reinforcement, even the ballistics of firearm bullets applies to the magic world to some extent, since clearly not even Alter's innate magic resistance can resist a .44 Mag round shot at her right in front of her own face.

Still, the bullet _does_ get dispersed, just not until after I draw blood from Alter, making this the second actually visible wound on her. Alter, taken by real surprise this time, stumbles backwards, clutching at her nose in reflex, and Artoria, who's given chase as soon as she realized that her evil version of herself was gunning for me and Matthew, lets loose a burst of wind from her own Excalibur to knock Alter off her feet. While it doesn't completely push her over, Alter does have to stumble to regain her footing, which lets me, in turn, emerge a little from behind Matthew's shield cover, point both my Mustang and Sally at her, and spam the triggers. Even though this still technically isn't a safe range for me to shove explosive bullets down her throat, I do it anyway, and the bursts of magic explosions colored red, black, blue, and white like multicolored firecrackers collide against Alter, bouncing her backwards until my handguns run dry of their magazine ammunitions.

"Hyaaaaa!"

Lily charges in again, leaping off the ground this time with a golden burst of her own mana and raising Caliburn high over her head to perform a guillotine swing down on Alter. Caliburn also starts glowing gold mid-jump, meaning that Lily is concentrating a _lot_ of magic energy into this swing, most likely because she thinks that she can end this fight right here and now. But Alter senses that dangerous surge of mana coming from behind her in the air and pushes off the ground hard to evade the attack, and Lily ends up slamming the ground instead with Caliburn, which releases its packed energy more or less right in front of my and Matthew's faces. I quickly sidestep behind Matthew's protective shield while Matthew herself also pulls me behind her with her right arm to protect me at the same time, and the ground explodes in front of us, throwing more grass, dust, and dirt past us.

Alter's armored feet drag heavily against the soil, and she looks up only to find Artoria still pursuing her to continue applying nonstop pressure.

"You are outmatched, Dark-Tainted Tyrant!" Artoria shouts, their Excaliburs clanging again, this time with Artoria in the dominant position of pressing her weapon down from up top against Alter, who's resisting the attack by holding her own sword horizontally, making sure that the normal Excalibur is jammed against the base of her blade near her hilt so that it's easier to apply pressure back. "Cease your resistance and relinquish the Grail to us. What exactly are you fighting for? You cannot even answer us that!"

"For you need not know. And I am merely outnumbered, King of Knights... _but not outmatched."_

Without warning, Alter's hands begin burning with dark purple and black flame-like mana, and this murky, evil energy quickly infects her Dark Excalibur, using it as a conductor to expand itself and turn into a pillar of flaming energy - or is it more like a liquid? It's hard to tell, even from here.

With this surge in power, Alter then shoves her whole weight against Artoria, successfully throwing her oppressor off, and Artoria backs up a few steps as Alter then swiftly raises her flaming Dark Excalibur.

"Be trampled..."

Artoria Alter swings down her sword, emitting a wave of her dark mana that blasts towards Artoria with alarming speed, and Artoria has to push off the ground to perform an emergency roll to the side, though the ends of her dress underneath her armor still gets caught and singed out of existence. For a quick moment, I think I'm watching myself play Dark Souls.

Finding herself doing nothing but watching the other two interact, Lily snaps back to focus and snaps to me, hurrying over to me with a few quick steps.

"Master, are you alright?!" she asks me urgently and earnestly in a hushed tone, as if thinking that raising her voice will draw Alter's attention back towards us.

"I'm fine; it's your older self who needs help right now," I nod over in Artoria's direction, and Lily turns back around, just in time to see Artoria trade blows with Artoria Alter, and the resulting clash goes off like a cannon shot that blasts an invisible shockwave in all directions, rattling the trees in our vicinity as if they were all nothing but small little Christmas trees; reflexively, Matthew, Lily, and I all raise our arms quickly over our faces to shield our eyes against the shockwave that bursts out from the collision of magic steel. "She's putting up a real fight; all of us might have to dogpile on her if we wanna take her down."

"But then that means you'll be in harm's way!" Lily protests sharply.

"I mean, I already was," I reply, giving Lily a quick shrug and pointing my thumb over my shoulder. "We _did_ take down at one Berserker who almost crashed the party here."

Lily blinks, doing a very small double-take. "R-Really?"

"He really did, Miss Lily," Matthew backs me up on this. "He did much of the fighting for me; I merely supported him. But you need to keep your distance from her, Master, she's very dangerous..."

"Then what we could do is open her up so that I can get one good attack in. She didn't seem to like my guns when I shot her from just earlier; if we can get her to slip up so that I can shoot her again, we'll see where that takes us."

Matthew and Lily nod, and we take off again, with Lily going on ahead of us to help out her older self keep Alter at bay.

"Matthew, I'm gonna get in there and try 'n distract Alter," I call over to Matthew while we're hurrying forward into the clearing together.

"Alter? Oh, you mean - "

"Yeah, the one we're fighting."

"But how?"

"I've got an idea, I think. Won't know how well it works until I try."

"But, remember, Master, if you die, both Lady Artoria _and_ Miss Lily will disappear if you die!"

"Yeah, I'm aware. This won't kill me, I think."

"Wait, what's with the 'I think'?!"

I conveniently ignore Matthew's last statement, as another burst of dark mana fired off by Artoria Alter cuts a swath towards us, forcing the two of us to dodge it.

"What is wrong, O King of Knights?" Alter, with a slight smirk, sneers at Artoria following another blade lock, and when Lily charges in again from Alter's right, Alter simply takes one of her hands off her sword handle and points it in Lily's direction to let loose a blast of her evil mana that Lily doesn't expect and can't dodge, blasting her off her feet and throwing her hard against a nearby tree into which Lily crashes in spectacular fashion - the force would have been enough to kill her outright if it weren't for her armor and her own powerful mana that are there to cushion the impact for her. "Why do you hesitate? You know full well that in this battle now, you cannot match my power. Or, shall I say... _your_ own power...?"

"A king does not egregiously flaunt his strength," Artoria hisses back, glaring back at her Alter form through the middle of their intertwined swords. "This quarrel is no different!"

"Oh, I do believe it is safe to say that this conflict that which you call a mere 'quarrel' is quite different," Alter disagrees. "Besides, egregious flaunting of strength? A king must crush all resistance and opposition with overwhelming force. Victory cannot be assured otherwise. We both know this very well. Or, should I say, _you_ should."

Artoria clenches her fists around the handle of her Excalibur, but before either of them can make a move, I call out to her:

"Artoria, move!"

Right underneath both of them, a blue magic rune filled with a strange set of inscriptions that looks more like a computer language than actual rune inscriptions expands, and both Artoria's feel a powerful surge of magic energy pulsing from the rune, and I delay the explosion just long enough so that Artoria can back up out of the killzone with a backwards dash, but that time also allows Alter to get away from the rune too, so I end up detonating it with a snap of my fingers to no result except contributing yet another crater into this already pock-marked clearing. Glancing sideways over at Lily to make sure that she's alright and doesn't need immediate attention, which she doesn't, as evidenced by the sight of her already back up on her feet and hurrying over to us to regroup, I disappear from Matthew's side.

Alter snaps right to me as I reappear next to her left side, already with my Mustang and Sally pointed left, primed with non-explosive bullets. Pulling the triggers with controlled speed, I turn fully towards her and watch her quickly shift her sword in my direction like a shield, so I just aim right past her sword and keep shooting. The bullets that slam into her disperse and disappear like before, but the impacts that they leave are undeniably strong, forcing Alter to stumble again and falter in her defense.

My pistols, being guns, eventually run out of ammo, but that doesn't stop me. As soon as I hear the two slides of my handguns retract and stay retracted, exposing their smoking actions, I toss them slightly up into the air, so that I can quickly grab them again by their barrels instead; the hot barrels that fresh off spitting out two magazines' worth of ammo bite the palms of my hands, but it's a familiar feeling. When Alter retaliates in after my bullet onslaught is finished, raising her sword quickly and driving the tip into the ground to fire off a quick stream of dark mana towards me, I disappear again, reappearing behind her right shoulder, with my body turned and my left shoe grinding hard against the ground to stop my momentum. Alter's reflexes are very good, but her body isn't as fast, weighed down by all that armor, probably, because I jam her right in between the eyes with the bottom of Mustang's grip, right on the sharp edge of the empty magazine that's still inside. And since this attack isn't magically powered in any way, her strong magic resistance offers her no protection from a good old-fashioned pistolwhip to the face.

Letting out a short shriek that's a healthy mixture of both surprise and pain, because no one likes getting a pistol grip smashed in their faces, Alter recoils the hardest I've seen her do so from any one attack so far. There's this theory I have that blunt damage is in some ways more effective than cutting or slicing damage, because unless you hit a vital area, cutting or slicing will only wake up your opponent, whereas blunt damage will shock and/or stun them instead - looks like that theory is on the right track in this case. I keep this up: I first hurl Sally, the Desert Eagle in my left hand, over at Alter's face, and it smacks her right against the left eye with the top side of its slide. I guess luckily for Alter, her eye gets spared of any terrific damage because the open action goes right where her eye is. Lunging forward, I grab her by her armored collar and start smashing the butt of my remaining pistol's grip against her face with impunity, and I aim for her left eye to damage it as much as I possibly can so that she's as impaired as can be. I only get two good smacks in before Alter lashes back out with her right arm, forcing me away, and I snatch my fallen Sally back up from the ground where it's dropped as I slide backwards against the upturned soil.

"Insolence - !"

Alter tries to throw another stream of dark mana towards me using her Dark Excalibur, but I'm faster on the draw: multiple small explosive runes twirl into view surrounding her, and I snap my fingers first before she can hurl her sword forward, and her area gets peppered with small concentrated grenade-like bursts of smoke and fire. And when Alter bursts more mana from herself to clear out the smoke so that she can see, she finds both Artoria and Lily practically flying across the ground, their swords primed to strike at the same time.

Fresh off another mana burst, Alter can't perform another one right after, so she's forced to have to block the incoming hits. But she can't block both of them - so she blocks Artoria's with her own Excalibur, forced to let Lily's sword hit her instead. Caliburn smashes hard against Alter's armor; while her armor doesn't break, per se, Alter coughs violently from the sheer blunt damage of Caliburn getting rammed into her side with full force; perhaps relative inexperience still isn't enough of a hindrance for brute force to have an effect, even from a younger version of herself. With the hit, Artoria also takes advantage by pulling Excalibur back, charging it with wind energy to the point where the entire length of her blade is swirling with visible winds, and pummels Alter with it, just like one of the attack animations of a Two-Handed Swordsman from Age of Empires II. The wind burst probably matches Alter's mana bursts, if not exceeds it, by blasting the deepest trough I've seen in this clearing so far and uprooting entire trees all behind Alter; Alter herself gets thrown backwards a good thirty or so meters, but she stubbornly holds onto her own weapon the entire way, uprighting herself and grinding against the ground on her knees and hand, using her sword as a brake as well.

As we watch, Alter swiftly gets back up onto her feet, holding Dark Excalibur with both hands again. The neon dark purple and red blade of Dark Excalibur breathes fire-like mana again, but this time the same energy spews forth from the hilt and the handle.

At the sight of this, Matthew gasps and immediately screams out to me:

"Master, get back here over to me, right now! That's her Noble Phantasm!"

Noble Phantasm? I've heard that phrase here and there. Well, shit.

Asking no questions, I bolt back, flash-stepping over to Matthew's side again to use her shield as cover from the imminent Noble Phantasm from Alter. In response, Artoria silently raises her own Excalibur in front of her, holding the handle with two hands as well, but holding it gallantly those statues of knights in Europe would. By her side, Lily is already preparing her own, with golden mana already pumping around her Caliburn.

"Your Noble Phantasm won't be ready in time," Lily tells her older self. "Get back behind Lady Matthew; you mustn't stay out here with me!"

"But your Noble Phantasm is nowhere near as strong as hers," Artoria replies back, with suppressed but equal concern. "You cannot match to hope it!"

"Better to have something to reply to her attack than to have nothing at all!"

Overhearing their conversation, I peek out from behind Matthew's cross-shield and holler over at Artoria,

"If your NP's stronger, then stay here in cover with me! We need you to get your NP up, and if you need time, you have to stay alive!"

Artoria narrows her eyes at me in confusion. "NP? Master, what is an NP - "

"No time, just get'cher ass over here!"

"But, Master, Lily cannot match the strength of - "

Alter doesn't care for us bickering moments before she throws her Noble Phantasm at us, and by this point the energy that's fuming off her Dark Excalibur is enough to create a funnel-like vortex that whirls around her blade for about fifteen meters or so in length.

 **"Iron Hammer of the Hollow King..."** she murmurs - her voice, even though she's clearly whispering to herself, is still perfectly comprehensible even at this distance because her voice is being magically projected - possibly because of the declarative nature of a Noble Phantasm activation, but that's just my guess.

Lily takes matters into her own hands. Gritting her teeth and slamming her armored right foot down against the uneven soil, she thrusts the glowing Caliburn at an angle into the air, crying,

 **"Sword of Selection, by your power - Cleave the wicked! _CALIBUUUUUUURN!"_**

The biggest burst of golden mana that I've seen Lily exude pounds the ground behind her, showering the air and the ground behind her with misty golden residue. Caliburn, concentrating its golden glow as Lily chanted her Noble Phantasm activation towards the tip, fires off a thin but potent beam of powerful energy that arcs straight over to Artoria Alter, lighting up the sky in its wake. But -

 **"...overturn the aurora, and swallow the light!"** the evil Artoria roars back, her whisper quickly escalating up, and she heaves her own unholy sword forward. **"EXCALIBUR - _MORGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"_**

Off of Alter's sword gushes forward a small tsunami of dark, corrupted mana that accelerates towards us and engulfs Lily's own Noble Phantasm with ease, removing it completely, like erasing it from existence. The instant I see the size and magnitude of Alter's Noble Phantasm, I immediately flash-step forward, grab Artoria around the waist of her armor, and bolt back behind Matthew, having to dive past her so that I don't accidentally flash-step my face right into the side prong of her cross-shield. As much as I want to go back for Lily, I can't - even if I'd gone for both of them at the same time, it wouldn't have been enough time, and my flash-step gimmick isn't really efficient if I start carrying girls in full suits of armor with me.

As I'm diving past her with the greatly confused Artoria in tow, I hear Matthew scream at the top of her lungs,

 _ **"LOOOOOOOORD - CHALDEAS!"**_

A brilliant flash of blue light blinds me and Artoria, shining even more brightly for just a moment than Artoria's own glowing Excalbur, and just before we're all consumed by the onrush of tsunami-like mana.

Matthew yelps the moment Excalibur Morgan slams into her Noble Phantasm, grunting and groaning hard - the initial hit pushes her back and almost causes her to trip over me, and I have to pull my feet back just so that I don't accidentally trip her. The sheer force of Artoria Alter's NP is pushing her back even still, so I act quickly - I get up and press my hands against her shield, trying to help with my own strength, but I'm not sure if my own human strength can really contribute anything of value in this kind of situation. I just pray to God that Lily can somehow withstand this on her own, and it's gonna punch me in the gut if she ends up getting seriously injured because of this, or worse, flat-out killed, which Excalibur Morgan can most certainly do. I mean, just _look_ at this thing.

Artoria also pitches in, holding her golden sword in her right hand and pressing her armored left hand against Matthew's shield to lend us her strength as well.

"L-Lady Artoria, you must - concentrate on making sure that your Noble Phantasm is ready!" Matthew hollers at her strenuously.

"It is ready now!" she calls back. "All we must do is resist this - !"

Suddenly, without warning, the surge of energy that's shoving us backwards stops abruptly, as if it'd never been going on. The three of us all look up quickly to figure out our new situation, and all three of us spot Alter in the middle of soaring through the air in a mighty leap, and a kneeling and terribly bloody Lily, having been forced to withstand Excalibur Morgan on her own by anchoring herself into the ground with Caliburn to prevent herself from getting swept away, wearily pulls Caliburn back out of the ground to raise it up to block Alter's descending hammerhead swing.

I narrow my eyes at Lily. With those wounds, the look on her face, and the way she's so weakly holding her sword, I predict that there's no way she's going to be able to hold her own in a one-on-one sword fight duel with Alter in her current state. So I flash-step as quickly as I can over to her, but because of how far back we've been pushed due to Alter's Noble Phantasm, and due to my own hastiness, it takes me two flash-step maneuvers to reach them, and after the first one, I see Alter, after landing, easily knock Caliburn askew and hit it out of Lily's hands. Caliburn flies over me as I flash-step underneath it to reach the two of them, right as Artoria Alter is in the middle of lowering her sword to angle it upwards, straight for Lily's chin, to thrust it up and through her head.

The next sequence of events all happens so fast that it's hard to tell the exact order, but I'm pretty sure that I basically ram into Lily to get her out of the way, I brake hard enough to stop myself right in front of Alter, but that means that I've pushed myself straight into the path of her sword, and I feel pain in my right forearm and my right side. I then hear Caliburn go _thunk_ into the upturned ground somewhere behind us, in between us and Matthew and Artoria.

Matthew opens her mouth to scream, because I'm sure that from their angle, it looks like I've been impaled straight through the torso by Dark Excalibur, which actually isn't the case - the sword _has_ impaled me, but it's only cut deeply through my right side, barely missing the side of my right lung. The more pressing issue is that Excalibur happened to cut through my right forearm about eighty-five percent of the way, meaning that my forearm is only connected to the rest of my forearm by a thread, more or less.

But just before Matthew can scream bloody murder, as soon as I assess my new situation, I clench my teeth and lurch my own right arm straight _up_ \- and I finish the job that Excalibur couldn't, which is cut my arm off entirely. In reaction, Alter tears the sword out of my side, thinking that I've done this to attack her, but as my arm flies and Alter pulls back her sword to retaliate, I step forward - and punch her right in the face with my left fist. I combine my explosive magic technique with my punch, so when I throw my fist forward, there's a magic rune rotating around my left wrist, turning my fist into a small grenade that will go off the moment I strike my intended target with it. I like to call it the Piledriver. Don't ask me where I got that name.

So the moment my knuckles make contact with her bloody nose, because I can throw my fist at her faster than Alter can swing her heavy sword forward, my fist indeed goes off like a small bomb, and it releases bright, ferocious right explosion flame briefly that punts Alter backwards with such force that the back of her head sails straight down against the ground behind her.

I don't stand around to see how much of an effect that's had on her; if it's done more than I intend it to, then that's great, but my objective is to get Lily out of danger's way like I did for Artoria. I pivot and lunge for Lily, reaching for her hand, grabbing it, then pulling her up to her feet before Alter can get back on her own to beat the crap out of the two of us.

"Artoria, now!" I shout over, clenching my own teeth as hard as I can to resist the mind-squeezing pain of my severed arm.

Stepping out from behind Matthew's cross-shield, Artoria raises her own Excalibur that's literally become a golden popsicle with how much mana's been packed into the blade. As I flash step over to the rapidly approaching Matthew so that she can protect us with Lily in tow this time, Artoria bellows,

 **"Sheathed in the breath of the stars, and a shining torrent of light! Hail! _EX - CALIBUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!"_**

Artoria swings her Excalibur downwards, and off her blade blasts a solid pillar of blinding golden light that's as big as an old redwood tree in one of those redwood national parks here in California. Alter, stunned by my Piledriver punch long enough to keep her in place for Artoria's Noble Phantasm, disappears in the light, engulfed by it in the same manner that Lily's own Caliburn was swallowed up by Excalibur Morgan, but in addition, the moment Excalibur hits Alter, it concentrates in her vicinity and then bursts straight upward, spiraling into the dark flaming sky like a beacon of hope and victory in a world of darkness and decay.

Maybe it's the adrenaline that's pumping through my eyes or something, but everything happens a little bit faster than I prefer it to. Artoria's Excalibur fades away, leaving an Artoria Alter lying where she's been struck by Artoria's Noble Phantasm, still stubbornly clutching Dark Excalibur. But she's not moving, which is the important part.

Although normally if I were alone I'd make sure that my enemy is truly out of commission, in this case I can excuse my own breach of conduct because not only do I have other allies with me to help watch my back but also because Lily is seriously wounded. When I check on her closely, her armor is heavily scraped, punctured, gouged in some places, and in general just heavily damaged and in grievous need of repair. Her limbs and face, however, aren't as wounded as I initially feared they might be, but her skin's been scraped so horribly that it almost looks like it anyway, with blood literally covering her thighs, upper shins, and arms. Her face and head have escaped damage, I think because she tucked her head down behind her gauntlets when she got hit by Excalibur Morgan while holding onto Caliburn that was anchoring her in place.

"Don't move, I'll get started on this," I assure her, gently pushing her down onto the ground so that I can have her sit and take a look at her more serious wounds, like the muscle that's exposed on her right leg - her knee and her thigh have been ripped open, to the point where I'm afraid that if she tries to walk, it'll hurt like a bitch for her. I wonder why her armor flaps that rest on her sides didn't protect her - and then I realize that they probably weren't covered by them because the armor flaps rest along her side, and if she's kneeling, they don't get protected. So I try moving my right arm, forgetting that it's been cut off a few moments ago, so I have to use my left arm only to administer emergency first-aid to Lily.

"M-Master...!?" Lily gasps, only just now realizing that I no longer possess a healthy right arm, and I watch her innocent green eyes grow tremendously wide at the sight of my wound. She tries lurching forward, but like I suspected, she yelps out in pain sharply, squeezing her eyes shut in response and clutching her right thigh around the open wound.

"Master, we need to get you out of here, you're going to bleed to death!" Matthew, reaching us, almost breathes right into my ear in a shaky voice, also staring wide-eyed at my dismembered arm.

"I'll be fine. Look," I raise my right arm up at Matthew, showing her the rune that's deployed over the bloody stump. "I've already stopped the bleeding. It's not a permanent fix, but it'll keep me together until we can get outta here. First, I gotta make sure that Lily can actually walk straight." I turn to Artoria. "Artoria, secure Alter and make sure that she's not gonna attack us. Matthew, secure that grail thing if it's not dangerous anymore."

Almost reluctantly, Matthew complies, while Artoria heads over to Alter. For my part, I hover my hand over Lily's exposed right thigh after I've analyzed the extent of its damage. Her Rectus Femoris is the most badly damaged, but her Sartorius is snapped in half, so she's gonna find walking painful either way. At least her femoral artery hasn't been hit, so her life isn't in any immediate danger. Then again, considering that she's just been hit full-on by something like Alter's Noble Phantasm, I'm more surprised that I'm not dealing with a corpse right now. I'll just assume that Lily's heart of a dragon is to blame. Or thank, I guess, in this case. The rune I build with my left hand detaches itself from my hand and lowers itself like an operating arm down directly over the exposed wound on Lily's leg.

"This is gonna sting pretty badly," I let Lily know. "So I'm sorry in advance, but you're gonna have to bear with me on this."

Lily gives me a tiny nod, and when I begin treatment, she winces hard, accidentally letting out another painful yelp as small sizzling noises pop from her thigh. I'm basically directly injecting my mana into her thigh, inducing hyper-acceleration of cells to forcibly rebuild tissue that she'll need to make walking not feel like she's pressing a box of tacks against her thigh every time she takes a step with her right leg. The fact that her body is like a fountain of mana makes my job a hell of a lot easier, and I watch her thigh as the bloody tissue regenerates itself in a matter of seconds, a real luxury for me when normally I'd have to sit for about a handful of minutes at a time healing something of this equivalent. I count the seconds - it takes me about thirty-two seconds to heal this wound, and I remove my hand from the scene.

"Okay, you're good. You _should_ be fine now..." I murmur to her, getting up onto my feet, and Lily gets up with me, painlessly standing up, though she winces from all the other bloody wounds she's got.

"What are we going to do about your arm, Master? I-Is it still around...?" she asks worriedly, whispering as she guiltily keeps her eyes on my arm.

"I think it is, actually. Oh yeah, see, it's over there..." I point over to the ground, and sure enough, my severed arm is still lying on the ground, resting against a slab of earth that's jutting up at an angle. At this point, Matthew joins us with the Holy Grail that Artoria Alter seemed like she was guarding when we first met her. "Let's get my arm, and then we'll check out what's going on with Alter."

We do just that; I retrieve my dismembered arm, and we walk over to where Artoria is keeping Artoria Alter in check. The feeling of walking around with a dismembered arm is something I don't think I'll ever get used to, either.

When we arrive, we find Artoria standing over Alter, albeit with some distance between them. Artoria Alter is by now sitting up on the ground - her own armor is in fact pretty badly damaged too, though surprisingly not to the extent that Lily's is. And unlike Lily, she isn't _completely_ doused in her own blood - just a little bit on her face, which is _my own_ blood from when I forcibly tore my own arm off right in front of her face, pretty much.

"She is defeated, Master," Artoria assures me when we join her. "She no longer poses a threat."

"I wouldn't be so sure still..." I murmur back before facing Alter myself. "So. I'd like to ask, were you in control of this Singularity?"

Artoria Alter gives us a small sneer, but it's devoid of any real condescending nature. It's more like a grimace, in fact.

"There is no point in having me answer you," she remarks back, "for it appears that my role has been fulfilled."

She glances up at the Grail in Matthew's hands now.

"Begone. Ultimately, it appears that no matter how fate changes, I face the same end when I stand alone..." Alter murmurs, closing her eyes and resting her left arm across her lap. "As I have told the young one before, you will all come to know of the Grand Order. I assume that some time has passed since our last meeting, so...perhaps the battle for the Holy Grails is already well under way..."

"Where did Lev take Senpai? Where did he take my Master from back then?" Matthew quietly but fiercely asks Artoria Alter, lowering the Grail in her hands. "Tell me, Saber Alter!"

"Has your memory been affected by my Noble Phantasm? I reiterate, I have no connection with that man," Alter spits back rather harshly.

"But you two were obviously working together! Why?"

"There is no reason for me to divulge such information. You have come here for the Grail, have you not? Take it, and leave this place."

Now that there's some downtime to think, a question suddenly pops into my head while Matthew and Alter are exchanging their pleasantries: how is it that a Servant like Artoria Alter can exist even without a Master? If I'm not mistaken, in normal Holy Grail Wars, Servants need a Master to exist in this world; otherwise they'd just disappear if they can't tether themselves to a stable source of mana.

"Are you being directly supported by this Grail?" I ask Alter, pointing down at Matthew's Grail.

Alter wearily looks back up at me. "Why do you ask?" she replies.

"Because normally, to my understanding, Servants like you need a stable source of mana so that you can stay existent in this world. Normally that source of mana would be a Master, like myself." I show her the Command Seals on the back of my hand as proof - the back of my severed hand, mind you. "So what I wanna know is how you were able to still exist in a place like this when you clearly don't have a Master, assuming that you're not lying to us when you say that you have no connection to this Lev fuckface that Matthew's been talking about."

Alter drops her gaze from me.

"Your suspicions are indeed correct. I am tied to this Singularity, which has been established by the Grail in the young one's hands," she replies simply and quietly. "So long as this singularity exists, I shall exist."

"Then why aren't you disappearing?" Matthew breathes rather dramatically. "All the other Servants Caster and I defeated together - they all disappeared after being defeated. But you aren't! Heracles didn't disappear immediately either - in fact, his body is still there where Master defeated him, too!"

"Aye, a strange thing indeed. By this point, I am clearly defeated and should disappear, but..." Alter gazes down at her left hand, whose palm she opens to look into it. "...something has been changed with this singularity. It should be dematerializing following my defeat and the relinquishment of the Holy Grail..."

"So is that why you're telling us to leave? Because you think that if we take the grail away from this location, it'll cause the Singularity here to collapse on its own?" I ask.

"Perhaps. You are here to resolve this Singularity; that is why you have come, no? This ought to be your task - and you ask your enemy to help resolve it for you? How foolish."

I turn to the others. "I don't know how I feel about removing the Grail from this place," I tell them. "Two things can happen if we do: either this whole Singularity blows up or some shit 'cause we've forcibly removed its origin point, and all the damage that's taken place within this Reality Marble leaks out into the real world, and obviously we don't want that, or we end up just dragging the Singularity along with us because it's tied to the Grail, and that'll just cause more problems."

"Then...do we destroy it?" Artoria suggests. "But there may be grave consequences if we destroy it..."

"Matthew, try contacting Doc and see what he thinks," I tell Matthew, who nods and brings up Dr. Roman's hologram protection again.

"Doctor, we've secured the Holy Grail tied to this singularity. What do we need to do to remove the Singularity itself?" she asks.

 _"Wait, what? You're saying it's not going away on its own?"_ he replies back immediately, clearly sounding quite startled by our news.

"No, that's why we're still here," Matthew responds for her part. "You're not still playing with Magi Mari, are you?"

 _"Ah, crap. Okay, let me figure this out...and no, I'll have you know that I_ wasn't _playing around with her this time..."_

As we're waiting for Dr. Roman to fiddle around with whatever the hell he's doing, I lean over to Matthew briefly.

"Who the hell's Magi Mari?" I ask her.

"You...don't want to know."

"Oh, so it's like that."

I turn to Alter instead.

"Let me ask you real quick here: what're your opinions of staying with us here? It seemed like, judging by what you've been saying so far, you've been cooped up here for a pretty long time," I tell her.

Alter glances back up at me, almost with a bored look.

"Are you insinuating that I become your Servant?" she mutters.

I shrug. "Basically."

"And why would you ask that of a Servant who has aimed to kill you?"

Rubbing my chin, I sigh a little.

"Well, if I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you, summoning a Servant in this Holy Grail War seems to be a complete pain in the fucking ass, and when it seems like if this Singularity disappears, you will too, I'm standing here thinkin' that it'd be kind of a waste for you to just disappear, right? That, and if I recall correctly, Servants can contract with another Master if their own original Masters were killed off or ended their contracts early or something. Since you didn't have a Master to begin with, I'm assuming, and since it seems like I can have multiple Servants at once..." I glance over at my two Artoria's, "I figured that you could join us too."

"And what if I refuse?"

"Then you refuse." I hit her with yet another shrug. "I'm not gonna spend an hour here trying to convince you to join us. Though, at this rate, with how long this guy's taking, it might actually _be_ an ho - "

 _"I'm back, I'm back! I swear I wasn't texting Magi Mari underneath my desk!"_ Dr. Roman coughs through the projection hologram.

"Who the _fuck_ pays you again?" I ask Roman with a thick tone of incredulity.

 _"Olga, and she doesn't pay me enough, but that's a story for another day. That singularity's Reality Marble is very weak, you guys - all you need to do is remove the Grail from the Singularity's coverage, and that should be enough to cause the Reality Marble to collapse in on itself."_

"But what's gonna happen to this area if we do that, Doctor?" Matthew asks urgently. "Won't this area be affected by the damages that are in this Singularity too?"

 _"No, it won't, actually, because the Reality Marble itself is too weak. It's not strong enough on its own to leave behind any lasting effects - everything that's happened there should just disappear right along with it."  
_

That's...terribly convenient. I don't say that out loud, though.

"Well...if that's all we need to do, let's get outta here, then," I glance around at my Servants. "I gotta get my arm patched up, too...this rune won't hold forever." I raise my stump of a right arm, too. Now that I think about it, I hope there aren't any significant consequences for having the arm that's got my Command Spells on it cut off. It doesn't seem like there're any _immediate_ effects, but I think I'll do well to prepare against any such consequences, should they come in the future...

"Wait."

We all glance down at Alter, who stands back up to her feet. I notice that she doesn't pick up Dark Excalibur with her, and that's probably a deliberate choice of action so that she doesn't appear as threatening.

"You are a strong Master, both in mind and body. And I will say myself that I respect such qualities," Alter declares softly, glaring directly up into my eyes. I have to remind myself that I'm the tallest person in our little posse - which is still really strange to consider, for some reason. "You did battle with me directly with conviction and without hesitation. Normally I would have refused such a request, but after seeing a Master such as yourself who does not hesitate to act and does not lose composure, you may be worthy of my service after all."

I narrow my eyes back at her a little. "But didn't you ask me that whole 'what if I refuse' thing?"

"I never said that I would refuse. I merely asked you how you would react _if_ I were to."

I smirk a little. I think the two of us will get along just fine together. Though, I'm not so sure about the others, so I turn to them.

"How'll you girls feel if I bring her in as a new Servant?" I ask. "I know that...there might be a few problems with that..."

Matthew, for obvious reasons doesn't seem to thrilled by this. And naturally, the Artoria's also don't seem that happy either.

"You are our Master, so this is under your jurisdiction," Artoria replies respectfully, but she is stone-faced as all hell. "If you wish to have her join our ranks, then so be it."

Lily doesn't say anything for her part. Understandable.

"Then I'll be takin' her under our wing. We'll work this out somehow."

I glance down at my severed arm. I don't think I can make new contracts with other Servants if I don't have my Command Spells, since those're kind of my proof that I'm a Master. Sighing, I glance back up at Alter.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna need some time to fix my arm back up so that I can make that contract with you," I tell her.

"Wait, Master, you can fix your own...?" Matthew asks softly as I sit down.

"I might need some help, but yeah, I can do it..." I sigh, mentally preparing myself for the excruciating pain that's about to follow. "By the way, are you like the evil version of these two? Because she's Artoria," I point over to Lily, "and then this is older Artoria," I then point over to the Excalibur Artoria, "and then I don't know who you are."

"I am referred to as Saber Alter. I am indeed...another side of Artoria Pendragon," Alter answers me. "I represent everything that Saber, or, as you know her, Artoria Pendragon has refused to embrace and grasp."

Artoria stays eerily silent through all this, simply standing with her eyes fixed on Saber Alter.

As I begin work on my arm, constructing two surgery runes to assist me, I glance up at her one more time.

"Then is it alright if I just call you 'Salter'?"


	18. Strong Or Weak

**A/N:**

 **Alewar Warinot: IIRC, in a Holy Grail War, if a Servant has lost his/her Master and a Master has lost his/her Servant, if they come to a mutual agreement to enter another contract together for the sake of remaining in the Holy Grail War, they can do so and still continue to participate as legitimate contestants. That's the basis I used to legitimize my MC being able to offer Salter a contract and recruit her, so to speak. Obviously in FGO's Holy Grail War, things are much different, so this might not actually be possible, but if nothing else, this is just a fanfic at the end of the day. Thanks for finding my MC tolerable; I've traditionally been told the exact opposite in my other stories, most of the time.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

A strong gust of wind blows against my back, sending the bottom of my zip-up hoodie jacket that's purposely left unzipped flapping around against my waist, struggling to fly past me when I'm still wearing it. The air is musty and disgusting - it's like breathing inside a garbage processing facility, and having been down to my local landfills and processing facility before from doing favors and helping out friends in my business, it's a disgusting smell that, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, eventually gets old and becomes something you just learn to shut up and deal with. It still doesn't make it any better, though.

I look up, raising my left hand briefly against the tip of my cap that fits tightly over my head. It's a barren wasteland out here - I can still see mushroom clouds permanently fixed like natural rock formations out in national parks in Arizona, pluming up into the sky like ominous messengers of death. The atmosphere is filled with dust and debris, which I'm sure is deathly radioactive, and the air just has this oozing, dark orange tint to it, giving the environment an overall impression that I'm stuck in the middle of a radioactive sandstorm. If only I had a Geiger counter to provide me some morbidly appropriate music, too.

 _Uraaaaaaa~nium feeeee~ver..._

For my part, I'm sitting on the edge of a cliff. It's a small cliff in a mountainside, but I'm very high off the ground, let's say about five hundred meters or so. It's a spectacular view, if you're the type of person who likes to watch the world burn. The numerous mushroom clouds that are stuck forever in their current shapes, pluming and blooming like flowers that are doomed always to blossom.

Amidst them, a skyscraper of energy towers up into the sky, higher than any of of the mushroom clouds themselves. It's dark - composed of black, neon red, and dark purple energy. At the very top, something like a giant vortex of energy floats over it, like a black hole of sorts that isn't sucking everything around it into its gravitational pull.

Still with the fingers of my fingerless-gloved left hand holding the tip of my cap's visor, I narrow my eyes off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular, like a main cowboy character in an old Western film. Except unlike in a Western film, there's no hero here - and nothing to fight for.

I glance down at my lap, feeling a strange sensation in my right arm. I have no right arm. It's just like how it was the previous night, sliced off exactly where Salter's Dark Excalibur had cut through. Raising the stump of my right arm up so that I can better inspect it, I lower back down again without much of a reaction. It's not like there's anything _to_ react to, in the first place.

I haven't been back here in a while, I think to myself.

It's nice to be back.

* * *

I wake up to find myself already staring up into the ceiling of my room from my bed. Over so soon, huh...

Glancing down at my right arm again, I find it where it's supposed to be - attached to the rest of my right arm. I flex my fingers and so some stretches with it, gently in case I end up tearing my own arm off - oh, you better believe I've done _that_ shit before, back when my days of self-surgery were still amateurish and horribly inexperienced. Well, technically I'm still an amateur, but I've learned enough where I'm at least confident that my magical surgical abilities can be adequately applied to others without putting their lives in danger.

And it's certainly not fun tearing your own arm off.

I also check the back of my right hand that has my Command Spells. They're all still there, like an occultish tattoo. It's not like anyone in public has seemed to mind, though - most people think that it's just some tattoo that I've gotten, and certainly I've seen weirder tatts before, like a guy who tattooed the kanji 愚 on his back thinking it meant wisdom.

After double-checking my own surgical work and making sure that my arm is in fact fully functional and not in any immediate danger of falling off on its own accord, I get out of bed to check the clock, picking up my glasses off the nightstand on which the lamp next to my bed stands to put on my face to see. The clock over my desk and hanging on the wall sports its hands to show 10:24. Well, shit, an hour late - my business partners over in Central and the East Coast're probably still waiting on those delivery pickup numbers for the containers that are inbound this week.

Since I normally go to bed in a t-shirt and basketball shorts because I'm weird like that, I hop straight into my chair to get started on work. The fact that I own my own business really frees up my schedule to do whatever; it's not like my business partners can really fire me, so if I don't happen to get to work on time for their likings, they're just gonna have to hold that L until I show up. For obvious reasons I don't treat them that way the vast majority of the time, but due to my work as a mage, sometimes things like this can happen, so having this buffer is really nice to ensure that the livelihood that I have that supports my life monetarily doesn't get trashed beyond recognition just because I have a few bad nights out.

A few moments into my work, once I've booted up my computer and start to print out invoices, arrival notices, and billing statements from my work email for my records, I sense someone approaching my door - well, one human signature and one not-a-human signature. And sure enough, a soft knock peeps at the door.

"Yep, come in," I call over, still having my eyes fixed on my computer monitor to give a few replies to the emails I've taken a look at. The door opens up, and I hear it close behind whoever's stepped in.

"...Mas...ter...?"

Lily's voice slowly wafts over in my direction while Fou hops up onto my lap from underneath my desk, looking up at me with some slight degree of concern.

"Morning. You eat breakfast already?" I ask, still facing my computer monitor while my fingers fly across my Razer Blackwidow that makes me feel like I'm rattling my windows with the speed of my typing.

"Um, yes. Lady Matthew, um...fixed breakfast for us today..." Lily hesitates. "She...also wanted me to come up and tell you that your breakfast is ready too..."

"Ah, I'll skip breakfast for today. Tell her to keep the food in the microwave or something, and then I'll eat it as lunch. Since I woke up late and all, I've got to get this work done first 'n foremost," I nod at my computer monitor, swiveling in my chair suddenly to the left to reach over to my stacks of manila files that are sitting in their folder stands that sit on another smaller desk that I've got seated perpendicular to my main desk for my convenience. I also catch a glimpse of Lily who's standing at the corner of the desk facing me, and she's in her casual wear, meaning the blouse and skirt that she normally wears underneath her knight's armor, which is actually quite lovely to look at and could definitely pass for normal outdoor wear, albeit a little... _too_ princess-like. If that makes any sense.

"Um...o-okay..."

I turn away from her after I pick out the files I need to work with, and setting them in a little pile in front of me on my main desk, I open up the first one on top and reach down to my auxiliary printer to start sorting the papers I've printed out just now into their respective files. During this time, I notice that Lily hasn't moved.

"Are you worried about my arm?" I ask her suddenly. "'Cause if so, don't be. It's fine now."

"I see..."

The uncertain tone in her voice immediately indicates to me that it's not necessarily my arm that she's concerned about now, so I try again.

"Or is it about something else?" I ask instead, still sorting papers into the manila folders on my desk.

"Er...well..."

"Kyu?" Fou tilts his head a little up at me, so I pat his head a few times before packing up the folders and organizing them back into their stacks.

"If there's something you'd like to talk to me about, I don't mind discussing it. I can talk to you while working," I reassure my Servant, shooting a quick smile her way before facing my monitor again to get started on the emails that require more attention to detail.

"Is...is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

And even then, it still takes Lily a few moments to gather her thoughts.

"W-Well...I suppose...to begin, I...I didn't have the, uh, the opportunity to do this before, because...because I thought you needed rest first and foremost, but...I want to thank you for...saving my life yesterday. Or...actually, it'd...it'd be earlier this morning, I suppose, right..." Lily awkwardly chuckles to herself.

I just nod back. "Anytime."

"But...um, my...my older self brought this up to me earlier this morning, and...and after thinking about it, I...I do think she's right..."

"What'd she say?"

"That...that you, being our Master, should not ever take a potentially lethal blow for any of your Servants. Because...that would defeat the purpose of you being our Master."

I give a small little snort in reply.

"I mean, I understand that," I nod a little too, "but so long as I don't die, it should be fine, right?"

"But...Master, you had to sacrifice your arm to save me..."

"It's just a flesh wound."

"U-Um..."

"Sorry, bad joke. But still, if I hadn't done that, you would probably be dead right now, and I'd be down a Servant already not even a week into this whole Singularity resolution job that I've got. And I'd rather _not_ be in a position where I know I've already lost a Servant. And in comparison, losing an arm is a small price to pay to avoid that situation. The only really bad mistake that I think I made was accidentally letting the arm that's got my Command Seals be the one to get cut off; if it were my left arm that got cut off, then that would be acceptable. I do need to be more careful with my Seals...and I'm still getting used to this whole Master business, sorry..."

"But even something like that, having a limb cut off is life-threatening!" Lily insists. "If you weren't skilled in self-medication magecraft, then your life could have been in danger, Master..."

I stop typing for a moment to turn around in my swivel chair to give Lily my undivided attention.

"I understand what you're tryin' to say, I really do," I say, letting my polite smile fade away a little bit. "But I'm a little bit tougher than your average mage. I might not know what kinds of Masters you've had before in the past, assuming you did have previous Masters before me, but I'm used to getting myself into bad situations like that. Even before becoming a Master, I've been working as a mage for some time, and I've had to get into some... _conflicts_...with other mages in my area."

"But - "

I raise a finger to stop Lily, indicating that I'm not yet finished speaking my piece.

"I _am_ a very...efficient person, and I always strive to be as effective of a fighter as possible. You could even call be utilitarian in that sense; so if I have to throw one of my friends or allies under the bus, so to speak, then I will," I profess a bit quietly, "but I also happen to be the kind of person who will always fight to keep my friends and allies alive no matter what the cost. As an example, when Salter launched her NP at us, I managed to bring Artoria to safety behind Matthew's NP that kept us safe. I could have gone out to save you instead, but I only had time to save one of you, and not only was Artoria physically closer to me at the time, but she still had her NP charging up, while you'd already expended yours. I figured that ideally, I would've needed to save Artoria so that at least we could have a chance to retaliate with her NP, whereas if I'd'a tried to save you instead, not only would that have been much riskier, but you wouldn't have had another NP to retaliate back with; plus, it didn't seem like your NP was anywhere near as strong as Salter's."

Lily winces at certain parts of my little speech. I guess my words are jabbing her a bit roughly.

"So I'd done that in the hopes that you could survive Salter's NP on your own, which you did. But that left you vulnerable to Salter's follow-up attacks afterwards, and from what I could tell, it seemed like if I didn't intervene at the time that I did, she would have killed you. So I moved in to stop that from happening, which I thankfully was able to." I pause to take the time to cradle Fou's head with my hands and softly scratch the backs of his ears, making Fou coo and arch her neck so that it's easier for me to scratch the full lengths of her ears. "So yes, I do understand that a Master trying to save their Servant kind of defeats the purpose and is generally counter-productive, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd still like to make sure that the people I'm working or fighting with stay alive by the end of it. If these are conflicts of interests, then that's just the way it'll be; that's not enough of a reason for me personally to _not_ fight alongside you all."

I look up at Lily to give her another refreshed, quick smile.

"So...yeah. I'm sorry if that's not exactly the answer that you want, but I'm not really willing to compromise my own personal philosophy in favor of doing things that a Master typically _should_. But if things continue on like this and it becomes obvious that the way I'm handling things as a Master just doesn't bode well for me in the future, then I'll be willing to change my mentality. But as it is, just losing an arm isn't enough for me to do that quite yet, as strange as that sounds."

Lily just stands there, as if paralyzed, for a moment before giving me another tiny nod.

"...I understand as well, Master. If that's what you wish, then...as your Servant, I will not question it," she murmurs. "Rather than that, I...uh...well, it's...it's a little hard to..."

"It's alright if you need some time to explain. I can listen," I nod back up at her.

"But...I don't want to take away from this time that you need to...I don't want to get in the way of your work..."

I make a dismissive gesture with my hand. "I'm already late as is; delaying work by another, what, ten minutes isn't gonna matter by this point. I'm just interested in what you wanted to say."

Still looking uncertain, Lily continues on. "I'm just...I just think that...it wasn't fair for me to be fortunate enough to have my Master save me like you did," she tries to explain. "Like...you see, Master, I am a knight. Well, more accurately, a knight in training. Perhaps mistakes can be made in training, but mistakes cannot be made in battle. If they are, then those mistakes must have consequences. Inexperience...isn't an excuse to make mistakes. My mistake was to try to challenge...um, S-Salter's Noble Phantasm with my own, thinking that I could provide a match for it, which...clearly, it was not. I should have paid for that mistake with my life. There are countless brave knights who have died in battle making mistakes that have cost them their lives; as I am still a knight in training, I should have followed suit."

...that sounds really weird for someone like Lily to be saying.

"But you're a King. Or rather, you _will_ be," I point out. "I'm pretty sure that normally, just because you're a knight in training, doesn't mean you should have that kind of mentality."

"Then...I apologize for my rudeness, Master, but how exactly does that make you any different from me?"

"Because a King and a Master are two different entities; personally, I think it's a little absurd to compare a Master who's just a commoner plebeian like myself to a future King of Britain like you, especially one with the kind of legendary pedigree that you've got."

"Then it must be absurd to you that you are the Master of a future King."

"...yeah, it is, actually not gonna lie; giving orders to Kings like you and the other Artoria's is a little bit weird." I shrug a little. "But it doesn't seem like any of you have any problems with someone like me giving you orders, so if there's nothing wrong on your end, there won't be any on mine."

I pick up Fou off my lap gingerly and raise him up to nuzzle my nose against the top of his head. I'm kind of a fan of dogs and cats - I've always secretly wanted to own a pet, maybe a dog or a cat, but...when I started my amateur training to become a mage and realized just what kind of a life I would have to lead, I've always been hesitating to pull the trigger on it because who knows if there'll come a day when I have to head out to take care of some mage work and I just won't end up ever coming back home - and remember that, before I got contracted to become a Master at Chaldea's request, I've been living alone. I don't want to think of what would end up happening to my would-be pet then.

"And besides," I murmur, lowering Fou back down onto my lap, "it's not just about me being selfish and wanting to keep you alive just for the sake of my own reputation as a Master in this Holy Grail War. You're the young self of Artoria, right? So the way I see it, you're the future. You'll be the next generation once your older selves can't fight anymore, whatever the reason. Rather than seeing your mistakes as something you should pay for, see them as something to learn from. I do get being guilty that not everyone is fortunate enough to have second chances, but guilt alone won't get you anywhere, in my opinion. There might not always be room for error, but there's certainly always room for improvement. I'm the same way. I still have to learn how to be a good Master."

I take a glance down at my right hand with its Command Spells. They look like some archaic rendition of a nuclear hazard symbol, with three sharpened swirls in a triangular pattern to denote the number of Spells that I have at my disposal.

"But...you're already such a strong Master," Lily protests. "You even fought against Salter yourself..."

"I engaged her during times when it was most likely that she wouldn't've been in a good position to fight back. Also, she's just a much stronger person than me; I'm just a normal human fighting against the legendary King Arth - I mean, Artoria, especially one who doesn't hold back using her power for anything. My gimmicks were explosions and speed; and because she was more occupied with fighting you two at once, she probably couldn't concentrate on switching her fighting style just to deal with me. Had it been a straight fight between me and her, my gimmicks would've only bought me so much time before she'd be able to adapt and beat me. And these're more personal skills as a Mage and less caliber of a Master. You can be a strong Mage but a bad Master, and that's what I don't want to become, if possible."

"But your skills as a Mage can certainly help, right?"

"I guess so. But that was only our first test, of sorts. We'll see just how I turn out to be with the next few Singularities."

I glance over to the bedstand where my bed lamp sits. Next to it also stands the Holy Grail that we've recovered from Salter's Singularity. It was a lot smaller than I'd imagined it, and I really don't know what to feel about it, because my Dad was a Christian - Presbyterian Christian, actually, and we used to go to church together. After he died, I slowly kind of...stopped going to church. It's a bit of a complicated story. But because of my limited religious background, a part of me wants to view that Holy Grail almost like it's a fake, like it's not the one as written in the scriptures. But I hesitate to jump to conclusions.

"You don't think that you're a strong Master?" Lily asks timidly.

"I don't think that I'm strong or weak, to tell you the truth," I reply. "I get the job done. If I can do my part or make sure that my responsibilities are fulfilled, by that point, it won't matter if I'm strong or weak. Or, another way I like to put it is, if I'm a strong Mage but I can't make anything happen with my skills or abilities, then me being a strong Mage is irrelevant. But if I'm a weak Mage, but I can still find ways to be impactful in a situation, enough to make a difference, then that's really all that matters. As long as I can make a difference, I'm fine with being called strong or weak."

"That's...quite a neutral position."

"It is. For me, it's the easiest way to think of things." I lean back in my chair a little. "I like being simple-minded, and I don't like to really think about things that I feel like don't need to be dwelt upon for longer than they should. It saves me a lot of pointless stress and the like."

Lily smiles for the first time. "I-I'm the same way too, actually. I like...thinking about things simply." Her smile falls off rapidly, though. "...but, maybe it's because I know that...the me right now will become King of Britain in the future, so...in the future, I won't have the luxury to think about things with such simplicity, so the only time that I have to have that sort of mentality is now."

"Actually, Servants don't age, I don't think, right?" I point out. "So since you've been summoned in this state, you can just keep being who you want to be. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that."

"But you said yourself, Master, that you like to think of me as the future generation, that I should train to join the likes of my older selves..."

"Well, I meant that in more of a combat experience context. But...if you find that you also mature mentally too, then that's fine too. I guess I'm just suggesting you to take your time with it."

"Oh, I...I see..."

Lily bows slightly towards me, though I think she's just performing a somewhat exaggerated nod.

"I'll leave you to your work now, Master. I'm...I'm sure I've already taken enough of your time, and for that I'm really sorry," Lily apologizes reservedly. "I will go tell Lady Matthew of your lunch plans. And...despite everything I've talked about with you just now, I...thank you for saving me."

I give her a slight nod back and smile, and she bows out of my room, closing the door softly behind her. Fou, meanwhile, is still sitting on my lap, resting against my belly, apparently electing to stay here with me rather than follow Lily out. I look down at him.

"Wanna chill with me, huh?" I ask him. "I hope my typing doesn't bug ya."

"Fou," he replies, looking back up at me. I give him a good ol' belly scratch before resuming my work.


	19. The Triple Play

After finishing with work, I carry Fou with me in my arms as I walk downstairs. Work didn't take as long as I thought it would - then again, today's Sunday, and there wasn't even supposed to be any work today, it's just that one of my business partners had forgotten to send some clearance documents for a few shipments that are coming in later this week that he should have sent earlier last week instead, but it's not a big deal.

The moment my Servants hear me stepping down the stairs, and my stairs are a little bit creaky in certain parts, so it's very easy to know when people are walking up and down on them even if they're trying to be stealthy about it - I've been walking up and down these stairs for the past, how many years has it been now, thirteen years? So I'd know - anyway, they all stand up from the table to greet me as I step off the last little stair onto the first floor. Well, _technically_ the first floor, because the garage is underneath us - actually, that's the basement, isn't it. Fuck, whatever.

"Master, how is your condition?" Artoria asks me with urgent concern, the most immediately assertive of the girls.

"Arm's good, I'm good. Nothin' to worry about," I nod back at her, lifting up my right arm at her and turning it around a few times in opposite directions to show her that my arm is back to tip-top shape. "You all eat breakfast already?"

"Yes. I was the one who made breakfast for them this morning," Matthew explains hastily. Knowing that it's almost already noon, I nod back at them all and start heading over into the kitchen.

"Well, it's almost lunch - actually, when'd you all eat breakfast?" I ask for clarification's sake.

"Precisely at eight o'clock, Master," Salter replies, surprisingly enough. Somehow, I get the feeling that the huge appetite is a shared trait among these Artoria's.

"Huh, so quite a bit ago...what'd you make?"

"Um, I made them bacon and eggs and hashbrowns..." Matthew explains, trotting along behind me as I set Fou down on the ground so that I can get to work inside my kitchen while Salter, who's barely moved from her seat after standing up, sits back down and Artoria and Lily also follow us into the kitchen. "I just went ahead with easy things to make...and I didn't know where you wanted me to put the frying pans, I'm sorry, Senpai..."

"Nah, it's fine, they're good right there, actually," I toss her a quick grin, and I'm not saying that just to sound nice, Matthew's put the used frying pans right next to the kitchen sink, which is where I usually put them to remind myself to wash them anyway, but I do walk over to check on them. They all still have a ton of residual oil swimming around in them, but expecting Matthew to have to clean all this is a little...much, even if she was the one who used them.

"U-Um, if - if you'd like me to scoop the oil out, I can do that - " Matthew hastily offers, being able to guess what I'm doing just by seeing me check on the pans.

"No, just leave that to me; I'm a little particular with how I clean pans, so don't worry about it," I say a little sternly, making sure to convey a sense of firmness without compromising a polite facade, and I'm also serious about this too: my dad taught me how to dispose of residual oil like this, especially the shit that gets left over after you fry things. But since I'm not about to clean the pans now, I open up the fridge again to see what I can make.

"Master, you're not going to be fixing lunch for us now, are you?" Lily asks hesitantly.

I flick my hand up towards the ceiling of the open little window of sorts that connects the kitchen to the dining table, and on the kitchen's side, just underneath the ceiling, hangs a little clock whose central design is composed of a red gear that sports a red skull inside. The hands of the clock point at just three minutes before noon. I let the girls figure that out for themselves as I pull out a large bag of chilled pre-cut chicken from the fridge's freezer.

"It's noon - that means it's lunchtime. Unless you ladies are used to a bit of a different schedule?" I ask, setting another fresh frying pan from the cupboard adjacent to the stove on my right. I also open my rice cooker to check how much rice is still left - and to no surprise, it's empty. "And plus, I gotta eat too. Didn't eat breakfast yet, remember?"

"I'll cook for them, please, Senpai. Your food's in the microwave like you told Lady Lily to tell me to," Matthew walks up next to me in a feeble attempt to take my spot in front of the stove.

"Do you know how to cook chicken?" I ask her in response.

"U-Uuuhhhh...yes! I - I think..."

No, she doesn't.

Shrugging a little, I set the frozen bag of pre-cut chicken down, reach up to the microwave that sits over the stove, and seeing the plate already inside that's still loaded with food, I tap the numbers 3 and 0 and then the START button to reheat it.

"Then I'll at least start on making some rice, since the cooker doesn't have any more..." I murmur loudly, walking back to another cupboard and taking a scoop of dry rice out of the rice bag with the measuring cup that I always leave inside the bag just for convenience's sake. I pour the dry rice into the cooker, take the big bowl out of the cooker, and bring it under the tap to fill it up with an adequate amount of water. "You girls must love rice, huh."

The girls, especially the Artoria's, chuckle awkwardly.

Once I set the rice cooker lid down and instruct it to speed-cook, the microwave beeps obnoxiously loudly like it always does to tell me that it's finished nuking my food, so I open it up, pull my plate of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and rice out, pull a fork out of another smaller drawer that holds all the utensils in this household, and head out to go join Salter at the table.

"Call me if you have trouble," I tell Matthew, and all she does is respond with a weak moan. I guess I'm gonna have to come to her rescue later.

Fou, Lily, and Artoria follow me back out of the kitchen, and I take a seat across from Saber Alter, or just Salter because I'm not very creative with nicknames, obviously. I take note of the fact that, now, with Salter with us, this dining table requires an extra chair. There's an extra swivel chair just to our left across the room, sitting underneath the desk that's over there.

"So," I nod over to Salter before I start shoveling rice with my fork into my mouth. I know, I use a fork to eat food, particularly rice, when I'm Asian, fight me. Oh, and I've noticed that I always subconsciously start with eating rice first whenever I eat a home-cooked meal that involves rice. So I guess that redeems me a little bit. "How're you feeling? Everything's alright, I hope?"

Salter gives me a rather solemn nod. She's sitting in her chair dressed in what looks to be a gothic lolita dress. I'm no expert in women's fashion, but I don't really know if anything else can accurately describe what she's wearing. It's definitely on the simple side of things, though, no gaudy frills spilling all over the place, a high collar that covers most of her neck and a solemn black ribbon underneath the French braid that I've noticed just now that both the normal Artoria and Artoria Alter have their hair fixed in. For some reason, there's a diamond-shaped hole in the center of her chest, just underneath her collarbone, and I have no idea why it's there. Fashion confuses me sometimes.

With the two Artoria's sitting next to each other, I can very clearly see how similar they are; Saber Alter really is just the more evil version of Saber. The only differences are their choice of clothing, their eye colors, and their skin tones. I can't help but wonder if Saber Alter became that way after she ate one too many cookies.

"Much better than when I was trapped in that singularity, that much is certain..." Salter replies firmly, not afraid to let her voice dominate the air of the dining table, unlike the other two Artoria's, who try to keep their voices reserved and controlled. "To be able to feel as if I can control my body in the ways I demand it to, that feeling alone is worth entering this contract with you, Master."

"Hm. So the Singularity wasn't treating you well, huh." I start chewing on a bacon strip.

"Aye."

"Master, you should ask her to explain to us the context behind the Singularity from earlier this morning," Artoria tells me.

"I was about to ask her just that. I wanna know what went on with that Singularity we found you in, and also 'cause Matthew back there seems to have a previous run-in wit'cha," I ask Salter.

"Very well. I first found myself summoned into a city named Fuyuki, located somewhere in the country of Japan," Salter gets straight into explaining, wasting no time. "But I knew that the Holy Grail War that was being conducted when I first came to be was not the same one that I knew. However, at the time, I felt as if I was being controlled, and that I was to obey a specific set of instructions in that Singularity."

"What were those instructions, and who gave 'em to you?" I ask, accepting a cup of barley tea that Lily pours me silently that I use to wash down my hashbrowns with.

"I was to guard the Holy Grail in that particular Singularity until all the Servants in the War had become corrupted - and a man who introduced himself to me initially as Lev Lainur Flauros gave me these instructions."

"Was he your previous Master, of sorts? Or would that be an inaccurate assumption?"

"The latter. He was no Master; he possesed no such Command Spells that a true Master would possess, such as yourself," Salter glances down at my right hand, which I can tell just from watching her eye movements that give her line of sight away. "As it were, I felt the urge to carry out his commands, but I did not wish to, not only because he was not a Master I acknowledged, but also because I knew that the Singularity was not the true Holy Grail War that I knew. The events and occurrences in that Singularity were improper and fabricated...and I felt that this Lev figure was attempting to transform these fabrications into reality. But even then, there was scant little I could have done to disobey completely; the power of the Holy Grail placed in that Singularity that controlled me was too great."

"And so Matthew came by the first time around in order to try to resolve it, before I showed up. What happened then?"

"The young one arrived with two others, I believe - her previous Master, who I assume is your predecessor, and another young one...I believe they called her Olga. They confronted me inside the large cavern inside which I was to guard the Holy Grail while Caster was occupying Archer outside to buy them time so that they might face me. We did battle, but in the middle of it, the Lev figure interrupted, and in what I believe was an attempt to hasten his objectives, whatever they may have been, he attempted to kill the other young one they called Olga, but your predecessor saved her, sacrificing herself instead. It was at that point that the Olga girl convinced the young one in the kitchen right now to retreat, and together, they all departed, almost as soon as our battle had begun."

I rub my chin a little. Damn this stubble; I'm used to my younger days when I didn't grow any facial hair at all.

"And so what happened after everyone left?" I ask. "And what happened during that time and now?"

"I was left to continue carrying out the orders with which the Holy Grail in that Singularity charged me," Salter responds crisply as ever. "Until earlier this morning, I waited for Caster to give into the corruption. There were even times when I left the Grail to hunt him down himself if I felt the pain of boredom infecting me. But I never did manage to find him - which makes me curious as to his fate."

"So was Caster's survival the only reason why the Singularity lasted for so long?"

"I cannot answer that; I would not be able to provide an adequate answer for your liking. I would assume that some point, Caster did succumb to the corruption or was ultimately killed by one of the other Corrupted Servants; but all of the Corrupted Servants themselves eventually lost their sanities, and in the end it was I who felled them all. I alone retained my state, but...eventually, I believe that I, too, would have joined them."

"So the Singularity was degrading."

"Yes. The Singularity was clearly not meant to be left active for that long; and that Holy Grail is not the same Holy Grail that is fought over in normal Holy Grail Wars. It is something less...perhaps not explicitly a fake, but more perhaps...an imitation, a placeholder. But the fabricated nature of the Singularity also meant that the power of the Holy Grail was weakening over time, and with it, because I myself drew power from the Grail, I, too, become steadily weaker and weaker."

"So that wasn't at your peak form that we fought you, then."

Saber Alter shakes her head.

"Hm. So we were just lucky, then."

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. But that is how things have gone. What is important is that you, as a Master, took advantage of your favorable conditions and did so firmly. Too many times have I seen those like you with weaker wills hesitate or be unwilling to take advantage of what is given to them, and I am glad to not have to think the same of you."

I think that's a complement. I'm not so sure, though. I chew on some deliciously salted sunny-side-up eggs in the meantime.

"So...let's say we never ran into you, or the Singularity itself never showed up in our area for us to go investigate it and then consequently have to meet you," I say hypothetically. "Would that mean that you would'a eventually just...disappeared or something on your own?"

"Perhaps. I feel that either the Singularity would have managed to establish itself as 'reality' in this world and wreak its havoc into the world, or the Singularity would have simply fizzled out due to a lack of power from the Holy Grail. And given the fact that the Singularity collapsed the moment we exited it with the Grail, I would assume that I, too, would have been destroyed along with it," Salter muses.

"What do you think would'a happened, if you had to guess, since you were there the whole time?"

"I believe that your guess would be more educated than mine, Master."

That's a funny way of saying "I don't know".

"Then what do you think caused that Singularity to show up like that all of a sudden randomly?"

"I do not like repeating myself, Master."

"Neither do I, but I like asking just so that I can be absolutely clear on these kinds of things. You'll excuse me for that, I hope."

Salter just snorts in response.

"Then now that I have answered as you have asked, you don't mind if I ask you questions of my own?" she asks back to me, folding her arms slowly across her chest.

I, being a quick eater, set my now-empty plate off to my side so that I can continue conversing with my newest Servant.

"Sure."

"You are a strong Master; the battle from earlier this morning is proof of such. However, I do not feel a correspondingly strong link with you being my Master. I wish to know why this is."

I tilt my head a little in confusion.

"Strong link, you say...?" I let my voice trail off, making it clear that I'm not exactly sure what she's talking about, and at this point, Artoria, who's sitting next to her alter self, clears her throat a little to join in.

"If you'll excuse me, Master," Artoria begins, "generally speaking, the more skilled and powerful the Master, the stronger the Servant himself or herself becomes. As Servants sustain themselves using the mana flow of their Masters, the strength and skill of a Master can naturally flow to the Servant, imbuing him or her with heightened parameters of their skills and abilities."

"Oh. So if I'm stronger, than everyone'll be stronger. Okay."

"I demand to know why I do not feel stronger, Master. if it is because you are intentionally suppressing your power, I shall make it clear to you now that I will not tolerate such self-crippling," Salter says firmly, leaning a little bit forward in her chair at me. Seeing her do this, Lily also quickly scoots over next to me, just to make sure that Salter isn't about to fly out of her seat to plunge Dark Excalibur down my throat or something.

I first raise my right hand slowly at her to keep her at bay in a non-threatening way. "I'm not suppressing my power or anything; I can assure you that I'm not doing anything of the sort," I tell her clearly and straightforwardly. "And I want all of my Servants to fight at their optimal states, so me suppressing my power consciously wouldn't do my own interests any good either. If that's how that part of the whole Servant-Master relationship thing goes, then I'm sorry; what you see is what you get, so to speak."

Clearly disgruntled, Salter gives me a rather deeply disappointed look before sitting back in her chair.

"But that does not make sense..." she grumbles, still keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

I think I know what she's talking about. "I think I know why you feel that way," I tell her.

"Do tell, Master."

"What I think it is, is that my magecraft isn't...normal," I offer my guess. "It's like a homemade style of magecraft; I was never properly trained in the arts of magecraft, never went to any proper school or anything like that. I just basically learned a do-it-yourself style and I've just been using that all my life."

"Your _style_ of magecraft has nothing to do with it," Salter speaks back sharply. "Rather, it is your mana."

"Well, even then, I wouldn't say that I'm like, _spectacular_ or anything like that in terms of my mana."

"Then how do you explain the techniques you used against me earlier this morning?"

"When we fought?"

"Yes. Those explosions you hit me with were packed with mana; even if I was fighting you in a weakened state, those were without a doubt powerful magic attacks. Furthermore, when I struck you in the arm, not only did you elect to cut your own arm off with my sword, but you continued to function normally. Most humans do not exhibit such mental fortitude without having a strong surge of mana to compensate for the side effects of such a debilitating injury."

I just shrug back at her. "Then has it ever occurred to you that I could very well just be one of those few who aren't like that? I'm not most people, after all."

"Then how else would you explain why I do not feel as powerful as I should to match your strength as a Master?"

Taking sort of a deep sigh, I lean forward in my chair a little too, putting my hands together in a little Gendou pose.

"I think, personally, that my strength lies more in my experience...not in my actual raw strength as a Mage," I profess. "Even if I may look young, I do take a little bit of pride in my experience that I have so far as a mage. And while it might not compare to, say, the years of experience that _you_ may have, it suits the situations that I've normally been finding myself in quite well, and the run-in we had with you this morning didn't seem to be an exception, other than the fact that you weren't as strong as you normally would be. Those explosions I made to attack you, I practiced over and over until I can control it exactly the way I want."

"Oh, so you are saying then that you know what it feels like to have your arm dismembered over and over?"

I nod right back without even batting an eyelash. "Yeah, somethin' like that. Think about it." I raise my arm up to her and show her the minute ring around my right arm where it got severed; the ring will heal on its own eventually. "Even though I don't have any scars here to show you, how else did you think that I was able to become so good at self-surgery? I didn't just learn human anatomy and basic magical surgical procedures for the hell of it. I learned them because I've gotten injured badly enough before to warrant learning first aid stuff."

I lower my arm again.

"I understand that you're very much so interested in becoming as strong as you can get, but if you're dissatisfied with my caliber as a Master in terms of raw mana quality, then..." I hit Salter with an exaggerated shrug. "I'm sorry, I guess, I really don't know what else to say. Much of my power as a Mage comes from artificial magecraft and pure experience and practice. Compared to you three who all have hearts of dragons that just pump mana out the ass for you, I'm just a puny human who has to rely on gimmicks and fake magic to win."

Salter looks progressively more and more disgusted with me as I'm talking, and by the time I'm done, she's ready with her retort.

"I believed that you would not be like most protagonist-like Masters, but with that increasingly self-effacing attitude, I cannot help but feel that you just may be one of them after all," she hisses lowly while sighing quietly through her nose before getting up from her chair abruptly. "I care not about what you call your magic."

I watch her walk past behind Artoria's chair to retire to the living room, probably to sit on the couches or something, since the sun rays are flooding through the glass doors of the living room that leads out to the tiny patio outside.

"Disappointed in me, then?" I ask her.

"Not yet, but you are certainly paving yourself the way."

The other Artoria's and I watch her walk out of sight as she heads over to the living room. I'm not even sure what she plans to do over there.

"...I hope we can somehow all fight together..." Lily murmurs very apprehensively.

"We'll find a way," I say reassuringly. "We'll have to."


	20. Sweet Teeth

"Senpai, if you don't mind me asking, how did you learn to fight with those, uh, guns?"

We're all sitting in the living room. The 48-inch flatscreen is showing some Food Network, and from the sounds of it, they're learning how to make creme brulee. Both Artoria and Artoria Alter are watching the TV with the sharpest of attentions, even sharing the same two-seater couch together that faces the TV directly. Matthew and Artoria Lily are sitting together on the three seater sofa perpendicular to the couch, pushed up against the wall, while I'm cleaning my guns and rifle on the floor. The heavy glass table that sits in the middle holds a big party tray filled with various Korean snacks, peeled tangerines, and some leftover See's Candy that I got from one of my local business partners recently because it was his birthday and one of _his_ friends mistakenly got him some See's Candy without realizing that he didn't like chocolate, so he just gave it to me instead because he knows that I've got a bit of a sweet tooth.

I peek inside the barrel to check for any noticeable gunk buildups; in my experience, I've found that firing magical bullets leaves behind some nasty buildups, much faster than regular bullets, as it turns out. It mainly hinges on the intensity and strength with which the magical bullets are fired, and it's actually possible to fire magical bullets that leave behind no gunk or magical residue, but at that point you're basically firing an airsoft gun or something that wouldn't even hurt normal humans - not _seriously,_ anyway.

"I learned them mainly through my dad," I reply, continuing to focus on my gun cleaning and taking the slide off the top of the Desert Eagle to proceed to clean it with a clean rag that I pull out of my box of gun cleaning supplies. "He owned a pistol that he used as a mage himself, so you could call him my predecessor, I guess."

"Oh. Was it...a family tradition?" Matthew asks.

I let my eyes flick up at her quickly. By doing so, I also notice the three pairs of eyes that belong to the Artoria's all flick quickly over to the television. Silently noting this, I bring my eyes back down to my gun to focus on my work, but not before rubbing my right arm where it was chopped off to make sure that it's not about to fall off within seven seconds.

"Family tradition...as in, did my ancestors use guns as their modus operandi?"

"Er...yeah, something...like that."

Confirming that Mustang hasn't accumulated any noticeable magical residue buildup, surprisingly enough, I quickly and deftly snap the pieces of the Desert Eagle back together, and pulling the slide back firmly to expose the action briefly, I snap down the slide release with my right thumb, throwing the slide forward with a satisfying _snap_. I'll never get tired of hearing that noise. I guess because I'd just recently cleaned my guns, they haven't had enough time to display any such buildup.

"I don't think so. From what I know, I think my dad was the first such Mage of his family, but...I can't be too sure," I reply back, setting the Desert Eagle down on the clean towel that I've spread on the carpet on which I sit against the hardwood floor for my guns and cleaning supplies. I reach for my AR-10 rifle this time to perform a quick inspection check on that.

"A mage who does not know the history of his magical pedigree? Hmph," Saber Alter scoffs quietly with her lusciously British-accented voice, popping a delectable cube of See's chocolate filled with silky smooth nougat and caramel on the inside into her mouth.

Artoria, for her part, clears her throat, giving her Alter form a very stern look, which I'm sure wasn't at all difficult for her to make.

"You dare question our Master's pedigree? When he has already proven himself in battle?" she growls a little towards Salter. "As a matter of fact, he played quite the part in contributing to your eventual defeat earlier this morning. And you have the gall to doubt him?"

"Then you are telling me that a common mage of this day and age with no awareness of his own pedigree has been able to summon the likes of you?" Salter fires back quickly and with a low voice after swallowing her chocolate.

"He was able to help us defeat you; _that_ I am sure of."

Artoria Alter snorts a little again, reaching for another piece of See's candy, this time a thin cookie wafer dipped in chocolate.

"My defeat is trivial; I was weak, and that Singularity rendered me in that state. My demise was inevitable, whether I was defeated there or not."

She glares back down at me again while I'm cleaning the barrel of my field-stripped AR-10; I notice her glare down at me through the top of my peripheral vision.

"If you are a mage, surely you must be aware of the fact that magical lineage contributes greatly to your strength as a mage. And you say that you have no knowledge of it?"

"All I know is that my dad was a mage. I don't know how strong of a mage he was, but he taught me what I know," I declare firmly; I can feel the pressure of Salter's demanding words press uncomfortably against my face, but I guess that's just to be expected of someone of Artoria Alter's demeanor.

"Did he at least train with you, Master?" Saber Lily asks, unable to stay out of this conversation forever herself, and to that I shake my head.

"I'm self-taught. Mostly. Like I said, my dad taught me just enough to get started, and then I took it from there on my own."

There's this annoying little bump of solidified magical residue that's stuck underneath the muzzle of the barrel, and I can't seem to remove it with my own strength; I can apply more strength to it, but if I do that, there's a chance that I'll damage the barrel by pressing too hard and bending it, and then I'd've ruined the gun entirely. So I hover my left hand over the problem spot to produce a rune that floats over it, fixing itself into position as I lay it down onto the clean towel. Once I do this, the rune rises up and expands slowly, and when I peer down into it, it magnifies the buildup spot like a microscope so that I can see exactly what's making it get stuck so strongly.

"Self-taught..." I hear Artoria murmur to herself.

"What was that?" I ask her, even though I've heard her clearly. I ask this just so that I can get her to elaborate on whatever she's thinking right now.

"Er, no, I apologize, Master. I...I was just reminded of another Caster I knew personally who I believe was also self-taught in magecraft..."

"So even mages of modern times have some kinda similarity with mages of Arthurian times? That's cool - usually mages of olden times're a lot stronger than the mages of today, I'd like to think..."

Saber Alter gives Artoria a funny look, which I also catch wind of.

"Then...have you ever fought with other mages before?" Matthew hurriedly asks, getting the sense that she's asked a potentially dangerous question and wanting to change the topic, if ever so slightly. "As in, you teamed up with them?"

"Not...really, no," I shake my head. Looking down at the end of my rifle barrel through the microscope rune, I operate another smaller rune to dislodge the magical residue carefully and in a way that won't damage the muzzle's structural integrity. "Whenever there's been a problem, I've usually gone out and handled it on my own. There _have_ been times when I've cooperated with people, but those weren't anything magic-related. Normal human stuff."

"Normal human stuff?" Lily asks, her interest piqued greatly by this vagueness that I put into my words.

"Humans fight, too," I murmur, with most of my attention being consumed by my task at hand. I wait until I'm done dislodging this stupid gunk buildup, and once I've dislodged it, I dissipate the runes and look back up at Lily. "It's not just mages who fight over shit. Normal humans have their own agendas, their own things that they wanna get done. And sometimes, I get involved as well."

"Such as?" Salter asks.

"I'd rather not...say, the biggest reason being it has nothing to do with anyone here but me. And I don't suspect that it'll have anything to do with anyone here for the time that you're all here, so you don't have to worry about it."

I reach for the barrel again to give the muzzle end a quick rubdown with a smaller cloth.

"And if that worries you at all, just remember that they're asking a mage to fight against normal humans with no magic capability," I snort a little myself. "The outcome... _should_ be obvious."

The living room goes silent for a while after I leave it at that. Well, with the exception of Gordon Ramsay yelling at someone on TV about how their steak is so raw, it's still mooing something something something. Is that even the Food Network anymore?

"Then how is it that you were able to work with us so well when we were fighting against, um, Lady Alter?" Matthew asks, not wanting to anger Saber Alter at all. "It felt like you knew what to do at every step of the way. Or, how should I say, it felt like you knew how to fight with us as a team, but you're telling us that you usually work on your own, by yourself..."

I chuckle a little.

"Is that what it felt like?" I glance over at Matthew. "Thanks. I honestly wasn't trying to work with you girls as a team at all; I don't know how we'd work as a team when we've barely known each other for, what, three or four days max?"

Matthew just blinks at me emptily.

"...then...how...?" she trails off.

"The reason why I think that you think that I was able to work with you and Lily and Artoria was because I'm really good at knowing what _I_ need to do," I begin to explain. "I've already explained this to Lily in a way, earlier this morning, if you remember," I nod over at Lily, "but I've learned to figure out what it is that _I_ need to do in a fight. Even when I'm fighting with allies on my side, I figure out what it is that I need to do to have an impact on the fight so that I can make a difference. In this morning's battle, I fought by covering you two - " I point at both Lily and Artoria - "and making sure that Salter couldn't hit either of you. When Hercules came along, I dragged him away from you girls so that he wouldn't provide a lethal distraction. Everything I did that fight was just to assist you two take Salter down, that's all."

"Tch."

That comes from none other than Artoria Alter, who doesn't make any concerted effort to make her disgust subtle as her teeth crunches and grinds a shrimp cracker with precise retribution.

"You are saying that you were able to defeat me by simply being nothing more than a supporter?" she asks demandingly.

"Do you think that I'm dumb enough to challenge you in a head-on fight?" I firmly talk back. "Me, challenge King Arthur of all people? And who's got the heart of a dragon to provide her with God knows how much infinite mana compared to mine? No thanks."

"There you go again, Master. Belittling your own strength as if you are not as strong as you seem," Salter twists her lips with clear annoyance. "You speak as if you could not have challenged me directly, yet you attacked me when it was clear that I was going to inflict severe harm to the others. Or perhaps you will try to deny that as well?"

"Because those were times when I didn't have a choice _but_ to intervene," I shake my head. "Because like you said, if I didn't, you would'a done a lot of damage. It just so happened that I was able to make the best out of those situations and make sure you didn't do anything to the other two."

In the middle of reassembling my AR-10 rifle back together, I finally put down the reassembled rifle on the spread towel, next to my Mustang and Sally, so that I can finally speak to my Servants without something else constantly distracting me.

"I'll make this clear to you guys right now while we have the chance to sit down and talk like this," I tell everyone with a clear voice. "You all have to understand that I'm the kind of guy who tries to fight in the most optimal and the most efficient ways possible. As I've mentioned before, I wasn't blessed with a strong magical pedigree that I myself am clearly aware of, or with a strong magical background or education or upbringing, or with strong, top-notch-quality mana. You need to get that I'm just an ordinary guy who became a mage after he learned about it from his dad. Under most circumstances, I don't have a choice but to fight with the mentality that at any point, I could be defeated just like - that."

I snap my fingers together very loudly when I finish my thought with the word "that". I've gotten very good at snapping my fingers on command like this over the years, and it's a skill that I'm very proud of, for whatever bizarre reason.

"I've trained myself to always think that I am always at a disadvantage, and that if I make one mistake, my life can end. I do things in ways that put me at the least amounts of risk of failure. So that involves doing some pretty underhanded shit sometimes - you probably noticed that I only ever attacked you whenever you were vulnerable, right, Salter? At least up until the very end."

"Even then, your attacks were strong and formidable. Perhaps in my current state, were we to battle again, just the two of us, I may have the upperhand this time, but there is no reason to believe that you would not have performed greatly in either scenario," Artoria Alter replies, admittedly more calmly than before. "I take issue with your words and your actions. You tell us these things with the implication that you are not strong, and that you are only doing what you yourself believe you can do to influence the outcome of a battle. But from what I have seen of you when we did battle earlier today, I feel that you are far more capable of what you claim to be. The ways in which you have utilized your explosive magic suggest to me that you have developed great control over your mana; the time at which you sacrificed your own arm to take a blow for Lily consciously and withstood that pain suggests that you have very strong mental fortitude."

Saber Alter pauses to sip from her mug of freshly brewed Korean barley tea.

"So why do you insist on hiding that potential?" she finishes, lowering the mug in her hands. "Or, at the very least, why do you try to make it seem that you are not as strong as you are? Is there an ulterior motive to this, Master?"

"And so what if he is?" Lily jumps to my defense, not literally, though. She does glare a little angrily at Saber Alter, all the same. "Maybe he has his reasons. It's none of our business to try to pry into it, you know...!"

"Lily is correct, Alter. You are overstepping your boundaries again," Artoria sternly says again, for a second time. "You have barely maintained a contract with Master for less than half a day, and you already demand to know these kinds of things?"

Saber Alter opens her mouth to rebut, but she snaps them shut over another shrimp cracker that she rather noisily munches on.

"Er...well...anyways," Matthew tries to smile, but ends up merely grimacing widely, knowing that she's probably opened a bad can of worms on accident. "H-How did you train your skills, Senpai? Since...well, since we've already established that, whether or not you think you're strong, you're obviously very skilled..."

"Mostly trial by error," I shake my head, remembering the nightmarish days of my time as an amateur mage. "Since, like I said, I didn't have any proper magical training or education, and because I'm using a customized, homemade style of magecraft, everything that I know is a result of trial and error, in some way. It wasn't fun..."

"B-But you did get to this point, right? Even if it was hard in the beginning..." Lily asks me worriedly, and I think I know why she sounds worried in this manner.

"I guess so. But I'm still learning. I still make plenty of mistakes..." I lean back, setting my hands against the hardwood floor to prop myself up while leaning backwards. "Like, that part where I had to sacrifice my arm to get you out. I should have done something differently so that neither you nor I needed to be in that position in the first place."

"Like what, for example?" Salter asks. Of course she would ask something like that.

I shrug back for the time being. "I'm not sure. Maybe, when I pulled Artoria back behind cover, behind Matthew's shield, I could have risked going out there to pull Lily back to cover with us. Maybe I should've gone for both of them at the same time, but at the time I didn't wanna risk that because I might've not been fast enough to cover the two of them together. I'm even surprised I managed to pull Artoria back to cover with all that armor she was wearing. Or, maybe even better, I should've attacked you immediately the instant I saw you going for Lily, before she got into a position where you were threatening her severely."

Sitting forward again, pushing off my hands to scootch forward on my butt across the floor around the towel that holds my guns to reach the glass table and nab a chocolate cube with chocolate filling inside, one of my personal favorites next to the chocolate-covered cookie wafers that Salter just ate one of, I pop it into my mouth whole, chewing it and immediately feeling the chocolate ooze gush out from in between my teeth. Goddamn, chocolate is good, health be damned.

"In my experience, every injury is a mistake," I elaborate further, raising my right arm as an example, sort of. "Every time that I get hurt, it means that I've either made a mistake, or I'm just not strong enough and I need to train myself to get better."

The girls are silent after that while I take my cup of cooled barley tea that Matthew has already poured for me and that I've neglected to drink right away because I was spending some time performing maintenance on my weapons. The cool, refreshing but rich taste of simply brewed barley tea cleanses my mouth of the chocolate that I've chewed - one of the drawbacks of chocolate is that it's best if you have something to wash it down with; it _is_ a little uncomfortable to have chocolate stuck in between your teeth or on your tongue, since chocolate feels rather heavy.

"Possessing such a mentality, even at such a young age..." Artoria murmurs quite pleasantly, and when I glance over at her, I notice that she's got a small but genuine smile on her face; it's quite a beautiful smile, a kind of smile that you just don't see everyday. "It is little wonder that you are a strong Master. As much as I may disagree with Alter, I would agree with her that you are in fact strong, even if you deny it outwardly."

"That's right; it's - not anyone can have their arm cut off and keep fighting like normal," Matthew tries to add, but the change in tone mid-sentence suggests to me that she suddenly feels very awkward saying that.

I stare in my cup of tea. "I mean, the fact that I know how to deal with something like that kinda scares me too, if I think about it hard enough..." I murmur a little darkly before gulping down some more tea.

"Ah, speaking of training, how do you train, Master?" Lily asks, raising her finger up slightly like there's a lightbulb going off above her head.

"Mostly through incidents," I reply swiftly after setting my empty cup back onto the tray on the glass table in front of me.

"Incidents?" Lily seems confused.

"Fights. Instances where I have to face other mages who're causing problems in my territory." After scootching back, again still on my butt, I place the guns back in their respective protective cases, close and lock the clasps, and pack up the gun cleaning supplies and the large towel on which I've laid the guns, being careful not to accidentally spill any of the magical gunk bits out of the towel's folds.

"...so in other words, you don't actually do any proper training at all?" Matthew gawks a little.

"A little bit, but..it's only to help me figure out the theoretical things behind what I do." I glance over at the TV, and Gordon Ramsay is yelling at someone, ranting about something to do with salad. "Of course, I sometimes go to a shooting range to help keep my marksmanship sharp. But things like martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, and testing out spells and magic attacks...they're a little limited in terms of how I can train to better acclimate myself to using them. But obviously the way that I like to 'train' is not meant for everybody; most people should in fact train properly in a controlled environment; you can't just throw people into dangerous situations and expect them to figure out what to do, just like that. I was lucky enough to be born with the ability to adapt really well to whatever situation's at hand. And, again, in my experience, I've found that reacting and adapting to a new situation is more efficient than training one particular skill or power, because if you do the latter, you always run the risk of coming across a situation where that skill or power you've trained may be rendered worthless by something or someone. And by that point, if you've spent all your time on that one skill or power, then what?"

I scan the faces of my Servants one more time.

"Though, now that I have you all, I think I can actually take the time to train properly. It's a little tough trying to train by myself, admittedly."

"Are there no other mages who are willing to help you? You did mention that your late father possessed contacts with other mages in this area..." Artoria brings up.

"Yeah, but I don't know them personally. That, and all the mages in my area happen to be introverted and tend to prefer doing their own thing. Which I understand, since I'm basically the same way, more or less..." I nod over to Artoria Alter. "But I guess if there's anything I can do to make you a little less disappointed, I can offer to train with you this evening after dinner."

Immediately, Salter's eyes widen _and_ brighten up at the mention of this. It would seem to me that Saber Alter is rather easy to please...if the fact that her side of the candy and snack platter on the glass table is now gaping empty doesn't already speak volumes.

"Very well, I shall take you up on that offer. In this state, when I am at the very least not weakened to an annoyingly absurd degree, I may test the true extent of your power..." she murmurs, and I can taste the sinister vehemence tainting her voice like a venom. Do dragons have venom? No? Hm.

In the meantime, I clap my hands together.

"Alright, since we've gotten ourselves a new member to the family, I'll make something special for dinner," I announce with a small little grin, looking around the living room again.

At this, I witness the very peculiar sight of the middle strand of pale blonde hair that juts up from the top of Saber Alter's scalp ping straight up, like some sort of antenna.

"You can cook too, Master?" she demands.

"'Too'..." I note aloud, which then causes Artoria to try to intervene quickly.

"W-We have had a Master in the past who was also a talented cook. You could say that we have been, uh, spoiled by his...his culinary skills..." she explains awkwardly.

"What's gonna be for dinner?" Lily asks excitedly.

I tilt my head a little and put my hand on my chin, because I haven't actually thought it through. What _should_ I make...?


	21. The Three Artoria's

"Aaaaand here you go."

It's dinner time, and the clock on the opposite wall from the dinner table reads just about seven-sixteen. Since I live by myself normally, my breakfast/lunch/dinner hours typically tend to be very flexible, and I'm sure that's just a very kind way of putting it. I step out of the kitchen and close in on the dinner table, where Matthew, with Fou sitting in her lap, Lily, Artoria, and Artoria Alter are all patiently seated with their plates, utensils, and side dishes all prepared and ready already. As I put down the large sizzling skillet in the middle of the table, I'm greeted with a unanimous chorus of excited or hushed squeals.

Dinner today is the special pork recipe I looked up the other night - last night, actually, just before we headed down to King's Road College to deal with Saber Alter and her Singularity. It's bone-in bite-sized pork prepared with garlic and herbs, Korean red ginseng, and pink sea salt, and oh Lord, this shit smells delicious. It's not a pungent smell, so it didn't even escape the kitchen, but if you're next to it, it's the kind of smell that would instantly make your mouth water if you were anywhere remotely close to hungry. The skillet is very large, about a whole 75% larger than your average household frying pan, and it's stacked about three inches high with nothing but sizzling pork; of course, I didn't cook _all_ the pork in this one skillet alone, as I'd cooked it all separately with multiple frying pans on the stove at once and then poured them all into this large skillet towards the end. I'm sure it's easier to deal with just one big skillet than about five smaller frying pans.

And, of course, as this is a Korean household, we have a variety of smaller side dishes like kimchi, pickled radish, crunchy seasoned Korean beansprouts, crispy dried seaweed stacks, fishcake, and jap-chae, which are thin Korean noodles that are akin to Chinese chow mein and Japanese yakisoba, but a bit different in taste and texture.

Oh, and of course, rice. The Artoria's, I've noticed, have already demolished their first or even second bowls of rice, as I've specifically set out the entire damn rice cooker out on the table just for them, as it seems that their love for rice is something insatiable.

"Alright, help yourselves," I offer to them, and the Artoria's all cheer, with Fou yapping in excitement as well, and by the time I can slip behind Matthew's chair to seat myself next to her, the top quarter of seasoned pork is already missing. Something tells me that I should have cooked more, but even then that wouldn't be an option because I've already cooked all the damn pork in the fridge. Even if they were to ask me for seconds, there would be none. You can't have seconds of pork if there's no more pork; as much of a Captain Obvious moment as that may be, sometimes people need to be told that directly in order for them to understand.

"Senpai, please, hurry and take some before..." Matthew nervously eyes the skillet that's piled high with pork. It seems like the Artoria's have preferred to simply stack their plates with as much pork as they can, Lily noticeably less so, so the pork actually _does_ stop disappearing at some point, but Matthew's message is clear.

"Yeah...think I will..."

"Ah." Artoria halts just before she indulges in her first piece of bite-sized pork, sets it down on her plate, and clasps her hands together to recite, "いただきます."

I smile quickly over at Artoria, and Lily, who also hears her older self give pre-meal thanks, follows suit and repeats her with a quieter voice.

Saber Alter just eats.

"Alter, you ought to give thanks for the meal as well. For Master to prepare for you such a meal like this, despite the fact that only a day ago you were our enemy..." Artoria murmurs disapprovingly.

Alter just glances at Artoria, stares at her for about three seconds, and looks back down at her own plate and food. I presume that she doesn't give a shit.

"It's fine. Besides, I'm not Japanese, so..." I intervene, shoveling pork onto my own plate.

"Ah, yes, you mentioned that you were Korean. I apologize..."

"Wait, Master, how did you know that that was Japanese if you're Korean?" Lily asks with a half-full mouth, which she quickly covers in embarrassment after realizing what she's doing.

"I can speak it," I answer back quickly, just in time before my teeth sink into the juicy first piece of pork. The light amount of juice that squeezes out from the pressure that my teeth apply to the meat is just perfect; the meat isn't dry, but it's not soaked, either. It's the perfect amount that good meat should have so that it can be consumed easily and effortlessly, without necessitating the need for a beverage to help it go down. All that practice in the past sure is paying off.

"Y-You can speak Japanese?" Matthew sounds just as surprised, and Artoria would have made a comment, too, but it would seem that her mouth is really full with pork and rice. As I glance around the table, I notice that the side dishes that contain mostly vegetables have been left untouched. Even Heroic Spirits don't like to eat their veggies, huh?

I turn to Matthew once I've swallowed my mouthful of food.

"Can you speak Japanese too?" I ask her, in Japanese, naturally.

To my surprise, she responds to me in kind.

"Yes. I actually learned it to speak with my previous Master, who was Japanese," Matthew says fluently. She doesn't even have an accent in her Japanese, either. Impressive. "Did you learn it as well?"

I nod back as I reach a little for a piece of fishcake. "I was taught it at a young age, but then there was a large chunk of time in my life where I didn't have a chance to really speak or practice it, and then in high school I figured I'd relearn it again, so I did. I also know Mandarin and Cantonese - took Chinese classes in high school to help me prepare for my business - and so I can speak English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese."

"Oh, wow...you're very multilingual, huh?"

"Chinese wasn't fun to learn at all," I grimace, remembering well the horrors of Saturday Chinese _and_ Korean classes, back to back. "Even to this day I still have trouble with some of the more uncommon characters...but besides that, yeah, knowing a couple different languages really comes in handy sometimes."

"Did you choose to learn it yourself? Or was it, uh, because of your family?"

"Like I said, I learned Chinese for the business, since I have to work with Chinese business partners overseas. I mean, they can speak English just fine, it's just that sometimes, for some things, it's really handy being able to communicate with them in Chinese instead so that we know exactly what we're talking about to each other. But Japanese I learned on my own, and then my dad taught me Korean. Outside of Saturday Korean school, that is."

We continue eating like this in silence, more or less. I amuse myself while eating watching Saber and Saber Alter have something that looks like a chopstick fight over a particularly large piece of pork that looks especially juicy and tender, and while the two of fighting over it, Saber Lily oh so innocently snags it away without even realizing that her other selves are in the middle of squabbling over it.

"Senpai, um..." Matthew murmurs to me quietly with her hand over her mouth as the two older Artoria's both give Artoria Lily a pair of rather tragic looks over their lost prize. "...will you be okay, uh, cooking food for all of us every day?"

Grimacing again, I feed a piece of pork that happens to have no bones in it to Fou, who chews it thoroughly because the meat is still a little too tough for him to chew very well.

"Ideally, I wouldn't mind cooking every night. Cooking is fun for me, and it gets even more fun if there are other people I can cook for," I explain quickly, "but realistically speaking, that's probably not gonna happen. There'll be nights when I can't cook, so we'll have to eat out instead." I glance over at the Artoria's, the older two of whom have stopped squabbling by now and have gone back to destroying the pork pile on the big skillet in the middle of the table. "I was even thinking about having us eat out, but I figured I'd just cook instead."

"Master, um, I'm just wondering about something, and...and this might seem like a really rude question," Lily asks hesitantly, "but you...you know how to cook so well, but then you live alone..."

I continue gazing at her so that she can finish her thought.

"...I don't assume that you, um, you cook yourself meals like this...every day, do you?" she finishes.

Snorting a little, I munch on some cold seasoned beansprouts. "Of course not, no. It'd be a waste. And I like simpler meals myself. If I'm eating by myself, anyway." I wave my chopsticks around a little as I'm speaking. Gesticulation at its finest.

"Then..." Lily glances down at her own plate that's about half filled with pork and pork bones, the other half rice and some veggies. Lily is a good girl, unlike the other two who squabble over a piece of damn pork. "How do you know how to cook all of this...?"

Narrowing my eyes at her, I lean forward in my seat just slightly. "...what do you mean?" I ask.

"Er...well...no, uh, I..." Lily starts fretting, as if she's realized that she's potentially going too far with whatever it is on her mind. So I disengage, leaning back so that my body language isn't suggesting that she continue in the case that she really doesn't. After about half a minute, however, she resumes her thought. "I just...think that it's a little bit...a little bit sad to think about, that...you know how to cook so well, but...but before we were summoned, you were living by yourself...right?"

"What, what's so sad about that?"

"Well, as in, no one...it's almost as if...your cooking is just...going to waste if, if...no one can enjoy it..."

I start chuckling in response.

"Oh, so this's like a really clever way of tryin' to get me to make you all seconds, huh?" I grin, quite amused, at all three Artoria's, not just Saber Lily herself.

"A-Ah! That's - that's not what I meant, Master!" Lily yowls a little, going red in the face at my feigned misunderstanding.

"Seconds?" Artoria Alter, meanwhile, leans forward in her own seat, staring at me intently.

"Don't ask me for seconds when there's still food right in front 'a you," I frown immediately back at Saber Alter. I don't give a damn if she's the alternate version of King Arthur or whatever, asking for seconds without even finishing your food first is... _weird,_ to say the least. I turn back to Lily, though, again putting back on my polite smile. "Oh, and don't worry about it," I tell her reassuringly. "Sometimes I do make a bit more extravagant food for myself if I'm feeling something a bit more fancy. And I sometimes have friends over too, so I can cook for them too. You don't have to worry about me."

"Well, I just meant that...it's a little sad that people can't see just how good the food you make is..." Lily mumbles, shrinking visibly in her seat.

"Again, don't worry about it. And if it still worries you, just know that now, I've got you four to cook for." I point around the table at my new housemates. "That being said, since it's obvious that you two eat a _lot_..."

As I turn to the older Artoria's, I glance back at the skillet of pork. Only a quarter of it remains. I wonder where _they_ all went.

"Just keep in mind that since I don't have an infinite stock of food, you'll have to excuse me on days when I really can't give you seconds."

"I'm...very sorry about this, Master," Artoria bows her head a little, sheepishly, while _still munching on the rice at the ends of her chopsticks in her mouth._ "It was brought to my attention that I am...quite the glutton when it comes to food that has been well prepared and very well made. If you require us to consume less so that we will not become financial burdens to you as well..."

"It's not the money that's a problem. Well, actually, there's not really a problem at all, even," I snicker a little as I redirect my attention back down to my food, wrapping a fingerful of rice with a small sheet of salted seaweed. "It's just that there'll be nights when you two might actually eat out the entire fridge. And when that happens, and it's too late at night, I might not be able to go out and buy more groceries for you."

"Then I shall go with you, Master," Saber Alter offers rather regally, as regally as she can while holding a near-completely clean pork bone in her right hand. "If the grocery stores are closed, I shall help you open them again."

"...is that a fancy way of saying that you'll just break in?"

"Of course not, Master. I am still a King, at the end of the day, and laws must be obeyed..."

"So what're you gonna do, bend the laws 'til you're no longer breaking them?"

Saber Alter suddenly becomes quite interested in the kimchi that's in front of her in its small little side dish, which, mind you, she's never paid attention to before a single damn time tonight.

"A-And what if more Servants join us later on?" Lily points out. "Then if Master is the only one cooking for us, eventually it'll get to the point where he just physically can't cook for _all_ of us anymore..."

"I can help him, if it gets to that point," Matthew offers.

"I guess we'll see when the time comes, right?" I shrug a little, picking up a few beansprouts with my chopsticks and offering them to Fou, who munches and crunches on them too, licking his lips after consumption.

"Oh, by the way, Senpai, I received word from Chaldea earlier that Ms. Olga-Marie has received word of our success in defusing the first singularity. Dr. Archaman told me that she was especially impressed by the fact that you were able to establish a contract with Lady Artoria Alter, so she will allow us to attempt to summon another Heroic Spirit tonight."

My right hand that's about to deposit some jap-chae into my mouth halts the moment I hear the word "tonight".

"How the hell'll they do that?" I ask, unable to help but narrow left eyebrow with suspicion.

"Dr. Archaman and Lady Da Vinci recently devised a method to allow for a remote Heroic Spirit summoning via a process called 'Spiritron Origin Transfer'. I spoke with them earlier today, and because they have only very recently developed this method, they see this as a perfect opportunity to test it out."

"So in other words, we're gonna be their guinea pigs."

"Er...well, that's... _one_ way of putting it..."

I get the feeling that I won't get along too well with Roman the next time I see him. As for Da Vinci, well...I've never met her personally. Not that I can imagine myself right now ever wanting to, either.

"Are there any risks involved in this? We use your shield as a summoning platform, right? If something goes horribly wrong, is there anything that's gonna happen with you?" I ask Matthew for certainty's sake.

"They said that the worst that would happen is that my shield would explode or something like that, but my life itself won't be in any grave danger," she replies quickly. She's caught on that I'm legit worried for her life. "You don't have to worry about me to _that_ extent..."

Rolling my eyes slightly, I look back down at my own plate before taking another bite of my seasoned pork. "If you trust 'em, then that's fine, I guess, but..." I trail off, not finishing the thought.

"Well, but they're only going to try it once," Matthew hastily adds. "And if they feel that there is something wrong with the process, they will abort it immediately."

"Hm. Then I guess by this point, what I _should_ ask is, if _they_ do the summoning on _their_ end, will they be able to give us a guaranteed Servant?"

"Er, we don't know. I would assume we'd have the same circumstances as before, as with summoning normally with Saint Quartz..."

More bullshit luck stuff. I'm triggered.

"Then what about my contract with them as a Master?" I ask. "Because, let's say that we manage to summon a Servant. How's that gonna work? Are they still gonna recognize me as the Master?"

"Yes, you don't have to worry about that. I've already calibrated FATE to recognize you as the Master of whoever it summons."

How mightily convenient. "Then I guess we'll wait and see..." I murmur, even though I never really like using that phrase. "And, you two, please don't fight over the pork, I can make you more if you _really_ need me to."

The two older Artoria's immediately cease sparring with their chopsticks again. I wonder if people will believe me if I told them that two gender-swapped King Arthurs have fought with chopsticks in my dining room before. Probably not, I guess...

* * *

About an hour later, I find myself standing on the dark grass of Meridian Park. The sky is cloudy tonight, so there's no natural moonlight to help illuminate the darkness, which means that I've got to create artificial light of my own in order for us to see. The floodlight runes I create pour a metallic blue light down onto the grass field, and the environmental ward rune that I set up to prevent passersby from noticing any activity that occurs here is already updated with an additional layer of security so that the blue light won't be noticed by passersby either. With this, Saber Alter and I can spar in peace.

Wait, that doesn't make sense, does it.

A loud _thunk_ of a heavy sword blade wedging itself into the grass catches my attention, and I turn to it, standing in front of Matthew who is busy working with her cross-shield to establish a link between it and Chaldea, speaking to both Dr. Roman and Da Vinci on the line. Saber Lily and Artoria, both of whom are also in their full battle armor and equipment, either seriously or nervously look on with me as Artoria Alter, having summoned her own battle costume of sorts, this time without the metallic visor that would normally cover her mysterious and powerful golden eyes, puts her hands over the handle of Dark Excalibur, pretty much in identical fashion to how normal Artoria holds her sword.

"Now then..." Artoria Alter calls out to me, "show me the power that you possess, Master. I will not tolerate any purposeful weakness - I will not hesitate to slay you by my own hand if you - "

"You will not hurt him!" Lily cries out, wholly interrupting Alter, and her Caliburn shakes angrily with her words. "Don't you dare, Alter!"

"If he wishes not to die, then he will have to choose wisely. That decision ultimately rests with him and him alone," Alter replies quite coolly, shrugging off Lily's words with ease.

"Master, I apologize, but...even now, I do not quite understand the meaning of this spar that you are about to have with Alter..." Artoria murmurs discreetly with me, looking quite grim.

"To be totally honest with you, I'm not...quite sure either," I scratch the back of my head, just underneath my Samuel L. Jackson cap, "but she seemed pretty adamant about it, so..."

"Well, whichever the reason, you must surely be aware of the fact that she is much stronger now than she was when we faced her the previous night," Saber continues. "If either Lily or I feel that you need assistance, be aware that we will intervene to prevent her from doing you actual harm."

I nod quickly, turning back to Artoria Alter, whose evil dark purple and blackish aura is starting to seep out from the ground around her feet again.

"Just make sure not to destroy this place, mkay? It's kind of a pain for me to have to reconstruct this place if you go too hard," I call over to my soon-to-be opponent.

"If you would like me not to lay waste to this area, I suggest that you try your best to defeat me quickly," she returns with a definite level of haughty authority that befits a dark king such as herself, probably. "Let that be your incentive, Master."

Shrugging a little, I hunch over just slightly and focus my power into my feet, and pushing off, I disappear from Lily's and Artoria's sides, warping right in front of Artoria Alter instead. Already with my right fist raised, an explosive rune locked around my right wrist, I've flash-stepped my way in so fast that my opponent hasn't even moved, from what I can tell, so my fist is already about four inches away from her face the moment she even begins to move her arms to raise her sword up to her own defense, which, clearly, is far too late.

My knuckles connect against the front of her left cheek. Originally I was aiming straight for her left eye, but the moment I realized that Saber Alter can't even react to my speed, which is a little disappointing, to be honest, I manage to lower the aim of my fist just enough so that I don't end up dealing crippling damage to her right off the start; I don't know how well she'll be able to fight with only one eye. Regardless, the explosion blasts from my hand forward as usual, and Saber Alter gets lifted off her feet and performs a backwards somersault before skidding on the front of her body and armor for about twenty feet against the cold grass.

"End it fast?" I holler over to her while she's not even stopped skidding against the ground while I shake my right hand after a punch like that. My right foot also aches too, specifically my ankle, as I've put so much power into it that I was very close to dislocating my ankle entirely - and I know for a fact that I've dislocated my ankles before training myself to get used to this whole flash-step technique. "I'm usually pretty good at that, actually. Let's see if you won't be the same."

Quickly getting up to her feet, Alter, narrowing her eyes viciously and impaling me with her gaze, brandishes Dark Excalibur properly at me. As I suspected, even with that powerful of a punch, Saber Alter barely seems fazed by it; she only flew back like that because my attack was sudden and unexpected, and she herself is barely even hurt.

I can already tell. This won't end quickly. And neither will it end well.

Gotta fight it out, I guess.

I don't wait for Salter to come to me; as they say, a good offense is also a good defense. Rather than risking another flash-step maneuver to try to get another sucker punch in, now that she's ready for another attack like that, I raise my hand in a gun shape and fire a Reigun shot off at her, but instead of aiming directly at her, I aim up into the sky, like I did before when I sparred against Lily, and the mana shot soars up and splits into about eight different smaller shots to bombard Salter's general area from above like a small airstrike.

To avoid it, Salter blasts off the ground herself to close the distance in between me and her; even with all that heavy armor on, she is incredibly nimble, pushing off the ground with her metal boots to precisely avoid my airborne mana shots as they pepper the ground around her like small little artillery shells. In preparation, the moment I see her approach, I produce a large rune before me that releases a jetstream of sharp mana shots shaped like needles, designed to pierce through magical armor that is standard of mages against whom I've dealt in the past. But the magical armor that protects my opponent tonight isn't any ordinary magic, it's dragon mana, and the shots I produce out of this rune get obliterated the moment they come into contact with her body at all; even when they miss, if they're close enough, Saber Alter's dragon aura shatters them anyway.

Lunging forward, Salter swings Dark Excalibur down towards me where I stood to use that last attack rune, but I dodge it, pushing off the ground myself to sidestep and avoid the swing. Pulling Mustang out of its storage rune, I quickly draw my Desert Eagle and pull the trigger, throwing a crackshot at the side of her head. It's not an explosive bullet, just a regular mana bullet, and even more so than the previous night, the bullet explodes on contact with her head, getting utterly repelled by her dragon mana. And now that she's in a much stronger state, powered directly by my own mana as her Master, Saber Alter doesn't even flinch at my magic bullets.

She pivots and swings her sword again in my direction with her pivot motion, and blazing ferociously with evil mana, Dark Excalibur howls at me from my right. I risk attempting a half-prepared flash-step and throw myself out of harm's way, but I have to tumble against my left side and roll back up to my feet to compensate for my botched flash-step.

"Hmph!"

Artoria Alter heaves her sword again in my direction, even though I'm out of her sword's reach, but a wave of dark aura gets thrown off her blade, and it rapidly avalanches towards me, cutting a swath in the grass in its wake, so I'm forced to sidestep out of its way again, although at least this time without having to roll back up to my feet. But this time, she won't let me get away; she knows that I, having shown a clear affinity for ranged attacks, would try to keep running away and play a stall game with her to whittle her defenses down little by little, if that's even possible against her. But I guess that would contradict what she said to me earlier before I started the fight, huh? Oh well.

Either way, I realize that at this moment in time, it's not in my favor to try to keep running away, so I stand my ground so that when Saber Alter's blade is thrust straight for my neck, I put my right arm in front of my neck in time and release a powerful but invisible burst of mana; I oversample the amount of mana I put into my magical parry because I don't know how strong her blade will be when it connects with my mana burst. So when Dark Excalibur is about to connect with my right arm for a second time in a row, the mana that I burst off the back of my forearm repulses the unholy sword just enough to halt its momentum and stop Saber Alter in her tracks.

I try to take advantage of my parry and swing my Desert Eagle forward again to shoot Saber Alter in the face, but she's faster; she pulls Dark Excalibur back quickly and blocks the shot with the flat side of her sword when I shoot, and the magic bullet I fire explodes like a water balloon popping pathetically against a blacktop lot.

"Insolence!"

Bellowing this, Artoria Alter blasts the ground with her own mana in her own, much stronger mana burst, before I can fire a second shot, and the mana burst sweeps me off my feet and throws me violently to the ground, and unprepared for this, I feel the wind get knocked out of my lungs as I crash flat on my back against the grass. I have to cough violently before trying to scramble back up to my feet, but this precious moment that I have to waste coughing due to my body's natural responses to physically traumatic stimuli means that my opponent is already before me, dropping Dark Excalibur down over my head like a guillotine blade.

With Lily screaming in the foreground, I manage to at least scramble up to my right knee and meet Dark Excalibur with another powerful parry, deflecting the hit once more. But now that she knows what my parries feel like on the receiving end, Saber Alter adjusts accordingly and continues the onslaught of powerful sword attacks that could slay huge magical beasts hundreds of times stronger than myself, perhaps. And although I manage to get up to my feet again, I'm purely stuck on the defensive, having no choice but to parry each of the sword swings that she throws at me; in order to do this, I've had to forsake my handgun, which now lies on the grass behind Salter as each of her blows pushes me back a few paces each time. Hit after hit I parry, as I am completely reliant on reading Saber Alter's arm motions to know where the next swing will hit, but the amount of energy that I have to put into parrying each hit is staggering, and this is not something I can keep up for very long.

A large blue pillar of light flashes up into the air, but I only notice it in my peripheral vision and I have no luxury to spare taking note of it, because instead, I take advantage of one particular sword swing from Alter that allows me to sidestep shortly and still have enough time to blast off my feet again. This time, I slam the palm of my right hand against her face, and due to the sheer power of my speed alone, I manage to carry her with me for about another thirty feet, almost back to the others, where at the end of it I'm barely able to slam my opponent against the ground, not that I have any other choice with all this heavy armor she's wearing.

But when I attempt to produce an explosive rune to basically fire what's akin to a cannon shell or something straight down at Saber Alter's face, she quickly reaches up to me, grabs me by the collar, and hurls me strongly backwards, further in the direction of Matthew and the others. The powerful explosive rune that I've produced gets let loose, and the mana shot that ends up getting fired sails straight for the small cliff that overlooks the sea, crashing against the domed rune that I have in place to make sure that occasions like _these_ don't happen where a random misfired mana shot ends up destroying an innocent boat somewhere in the ocean.

"Master!" I hear Lily scream, along with a pair of shuffling metal boots crunching against the grass, and in the middle of getting up again as fast as I can, I notice out of the corner of my eye Saber Alter charging straight for me, with Dark Excalibur's sword length being about three times the length as it usually is with how much dark mana that Saber Alter is pouring into it.

Without warning, the ground below me suddenly explodes with bright, cheerful blue light, like a less blinding and certainly much less lethal flashbang. I hear a pair of... _something's_ whoosh like ghosts right behind my head past me, and following that I hear Saber Alter cry out in surprise, and once the blue light fades away, Lily, who's stepped in (or was in the middle of doing so) and I watch in surprise together as Artoria Alter staggers backwards a few times, reaching up to her face and ripping off a paper talisman that's been slapped against her face, over her left eye; the other one is placed over her forehead, draping over the top of her scalp.

"I don't know what you're doing attacking our Master, but as his wife, don't you think I can just stand idly by and let you do as you please. And I thought I'd dealt with enough dragons to last me at least four more lifetimes..."

With Sally now drawn in my left hand in self defense, I stand back up to my feet, realizing that someone else has joined us, standing in front of both me and Lily.

The only significant detail I notice about this newcomer is a big ol' fluffy tail.


	22. Contracted

Scowling quite heavily, Saber Alter, crushing the paper talisman in her armored fist, though with some noticeable difficulty, stands up tall - but the Artoria's diminutive heights don't lend well to her otherwise oppressive image, as all of the Artoria's happen to be a flat five feet tall. For reference, I'm about five foot ten.

"Just as this was starting to become somewhat enjoyable..." Alter grumbles to no small displeasure.

"Enjoyable? Fighting your own Master, enjoyable? And you dare say that in front of _me?_ Either explain yourself, or I'll deal with you myself."

The new Servant swiftly raises her right arm and conjures a huge mirror the size of a luxury bath sink or something like that, adorned with gold ornaments along the sides and framed with purple ridges. She is taller than the Artoria's, for sure, but even then she's only a few inches taller than them - I'm still by far the tallest in the group. She wears...God, I don't know what she's wearing. I think it's supposed to be a Japanese kimono...? But it looks like someone purposely cut out the thighs, the upper chest, collarbone, and armpit and shoulder regions, held up by a black and gold waist sash and finished with a ribbon choker and a pair of royal blue thighhighs. Oh, and a pair of high black loafers, too. Those detached sleeves that have those long black sleeve-tails look uncomfortable as all hell to have to deal with, but she doesn't seem to mind them. Other than her tail, she also sports exotic pink hair that somehow looks natural for being a very unnatural hair color, held up in twintails with the help of a royal blue hair ribbon that sits behind a pair of animal ears that I can't recognize, because it looks like neither a dog's or a cat's.

I suddenly have this vision of a shrine maiden in red. I guess this one's just a little bit more brazen.

"Wait, wait, we can explain, we can explain!" Lily tries to intervene, stepping quickly in between Saber Alter and this new shrine maiden-y Servant whom Matthew has just managed to summon for me; speaking of Matthew, she's rushed over to my side to make sure that I'm not seriously hurt anywhere, and I reassure her that I'm not anyway. "They - Lady Alter just wanted to test the strength of our Master, that's all. There's no reason to fight, please!"

"Aye, such is the truth. But for Master's safety's sake, and for the sake of receiving our newest comrade with good terms, I do think that this should stop for this evening," Artoria also sternly backs up her younger self, facing her Alter form directly. "You have gotten what you wanted, no? You have received a taste of Master's strength while you yourself are in decent condition to fight."

"Hm? Oh...!"

The new Servant, taking notice of Artoria, turns to her, and judging by the tone of her voice, she sounds piqued by Artoria's presence.

"I think I recognize you from somewhere, but...I don't...know...where from..." she thinks aloud as Artoria turns to her as well.

"The feeling is mutual, though I myself cannot remember either," Artoria shakes her head, but she greets the new Servant with a quick smile of salutations regardless. "If we have fought together before, then let us work together once more."

"Oh, yes, yes, for sure, for sure, but we'll have to make sure that _this_ one won't do bad things to Master the moment I've come along!" the new Servant angrily pouts. I only just now realize that the mirror that the new Servant has conjured is now freely floating around her body like a satellite. "You'll stop this, right? Otherwise - "

It's about time I stepped in as their Master before this park blows up for good, so I clear my throat loudly, stepping over to the new Servant's side to join in on the mediation. The new Servant turns to me as soon as I do this, and glancing at her briefly, I notice that she's got gentle golden eyes and parted but gracious pink bangs.

"Yeah, let's call this off for tonight, Salter," I tell Artoria Alter, holstering Sally by slipping it back into its magical storage rune. "I don't want to make our new friend here, uh, misunderstand what's going on. Think it'll just be better if we save this for later, or someth - "

 ** _"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa ~ !"_**

My words to Saber Alter get cut short when this new Servant throws her whole body's weight at me, and I, not expecting this, get tackled to the ground before I can do anything to resist. Blinking in stunned surprise, I find myself lying on the grass on my back with this new girl rubbing her face into my left cheek so hard that I genuinely think that she's trying to ignite a fire using our skins and pure friction. And it hurts. Ow, ow, ow, ow -

I can hear Saber Alter scoffing in the background, "And to think that it was _I_ who posed to threat to him. You two ought to reconsider who the _real_ threat to your Master is."

Having enough of this, I push myself up off the ground. The new Servant's body is actually quite light, and I'm able to get myself back up to my feet with much greater ease than I was anticipating.

"Okay, okay, please, please stop," I urge her, practically having to push her away to get her to listen.

"Aha, ahaha ~ I'm so sorry, Master, I just couldn't help myself ~ " the new Servant in blue squeals just a bit, bowing at me in hurried apology, though her face is still plastered with quite the pleased smile. "As soon as I saw you, I could just _tell_ that you're a strong Master, you know? I don't know, that just made me feel _reaaaaaally_ excited for some reason - "

This one's gonna be a handful. Steve Carell, where you at? I need you for a sec.

"Uh, well, _anyways_ ," I grimace uncomfortably, and the other Artoria's have looks on their faces that would imply that they aren't envious of my position at all. "I'm August Il. I'm the Master of these Servants whom you see here, and the reason why she and I were fighting was because she wanted to gauge my strength as a Master because she recently made a contract with me to become my Servant. We didn't expect you to be summoned like this, especially not so soon, so you kinda came in the middle of it all."

"Oho, so in other words, right at the precisely _right_ moment, you mean? Then don't worry about it, Master, _I'll_ take care of the _disobedient_ ones for you..." the new Servant tosses a downright _evil_ glare over at Artoria Alter. "Buuuuut ~ in the meantime, for anything else, if there's an order you'd like to ask of me, your dependable Fox Shrine Maiden'll always be ready to do your bidding!" After speaking in a very sing-song voice, she clears her throat rather cutely, to be honest, and ends with, "Caster, Tamamo no Mae, at your service ~ "

Tamamo no Mae? I've read Japanese mythology before, and the name certainly rings a bell. Fox spirit...courtesan...Killing Stone...something something...

So then why does a Japanese Heroic Spirit like her have no Japanese accent? And why is _this_ the first thing that I ask myself?

Following Tamamo's introduction, I receive this quick vision of a dancing Tamamo in a MasterCard commercial while shit blows up in the background.

 _For everything else, there's Tamamo-Card!_

...right. I rub my right eye quickly to get that...weird vision out of my head.

"Mm, well, anyways, lemme just make sure that we have a cease-fire for now?" I beckon over to Saber Alter, who simply scowls lightly and puts away her sword, and by putting away, I mean she just holds it with her left arm around the crossguard and tucks it against her waist, with the blade point pointing away. I suppose for someone like her, that's a good enough indication that she's agreed to a cease-fire.

With Saber Alter's threat now neutralized, I turn to Matthew quickly. "So since Tamamo's shown up, I assume that the remote summoning was successful?" I ask my self-proclaimed underclassman just for the sake of confirmation.

"Ah, about that, I'm - I'm on the line with Dr. Archaman right now..." Matthew says quickly, and she moves her hand outwards away from her towards me to push out the usual blue hologram projection of the Doc for us to see.

 _"August, was the Spiritron Origin Transfer successful?"_ is the first thing he asks. I catch a glimpse of a woman with flowing hair and and spectacles hurry past behind Roman in the background.

"Seems like it; we've - er, well, _you've_ managed to summon for us Tamamo no Mae, a Caster-Class servant," I report back, and Caster skips over to me in one bound, immediately clasping my right arm.

 _"Whoa-ho, that's great! Thank goodness, too, because we were afraid over here on our end that things might've gotten screwed up..."_

"If the risk of something going horribly wrong doing this whole Spiritron Origin Transfer thing is too great, I'd prefer that you not do that again, for future reference."

 _"Well, no, it's - you see, Da Vinci was the one who_ really _wanted to try it out - "_

The woman we saw pass by a moment ago immediately returns just to bop Roman on the head before slinking out of frame again.

 _"O-Okay, it_ might've _been me who wanted to try it out too...but she agreed to it, I swear!"_

"Doctor, what was the problem with the Remote Summoning? Because if you can optimize this process, that would be a lot more efficient and time-saving than to constantly send us packs of Saint Quartz," Matthew reasons.

 _"Oh, the problem? The problem seems to be the distance. Switzerland's over 9500 kilometers away from Tierra del Illamas; there's so much general interference in the atmosphere of the planet that ensuring the success of the Origin Transfer is extremely difficult to the point of impossibility. The fact that you even got a servant out of this is a huge relief...though there_ might _be a_ slight _possibility that you got a Servant that you probably weren't intended to get..."_

I narrow my eyes in reaction to this.

"...what the hell's _that_ supposed to mean?" I ask, but Roman is already talking down at his desk or something.

 _"Magi Mari, did the Spiritron Origin Transfer do what we intended it to?"_

And a high-pitched magical girl's voice barks back at him from somewhere,

 _"No, and you should be careful of displeased women in glasses for the rest of your day!"_

How...accurate.

Matthew shuts down the projection, clearing her throat.

"Crap," I mutter aloud.

"Huh? Did you, uh, want to keep talking to him?" Matthew asks quickly, hesitating because she's now starting to realize that she might've made a mistake shutting off the connection so abruptly.

"Yeah, but...I guess I don't need to ask him," I shake my head. Tamamo is still clinging onto me, by the way. "I'll just ask you instead. Uh, about our mission statement."

"...what about it?"

"Well, the letter I got from Olga said that there would be _an_ S-Class Singularity in our area. She only mentioned of one. So now that I think about it, why are we still summoning Servants if our work was already done? Wasn't the Singularity where we got Alter to join us the one that Olga was talking about?"

Matthew's face grows more and more visibly worried as I speak, so by the time I finish my thought, it's clear as day that there's more to this than we initially thought.

"The Singularity in which we found Lady Alter _was_ the Singularity, but...Dr. Roman spoke to me last night, after we'd come back home and you'd went to sleep, and he said that while the Singularity in this area was resolved, there are still magical anomalies that SHIVA detected, but couldn't pinpoint the locations of; imminent anomalies that would appear much like Lady Alter's Singularity did. And the problem right now isn't necessarily these future Singularities themselves, but the fact that now that FATE is active, it would be a waste for us to deactivate it now and dismiss these Servants when there are potentially going to be new Singularities that must be resolved."

I find my lips twist just slightly.

"And when you say 'couldn't pinpoint the locations of', I assume what you mean by that's that these Singularities can literally show up anywhere in the world?" I ask slowly and quietly.

After hesitating, as if deciding on how she ought to respond, Matthew gives me the smallest nod the world's ever seen. It's as if she already knows what my response to this answer will be, and I'm going to assume that she does.

"Well, this is the point in time when I have to object to that," I sigh a little, using my free arm to take off my glasses and rub my eyebrows a little before putting the glasses back on. "Because you've seen my contract with Chaldea, Matthew. Or at least I assume that you have, since you already seem to know a little bit about me. You should know that the terms that I agreed to when I signed that contract with Chaldea was to strictly resolve Singularities that might occur in my immediate area or the territories that I myself control as Resident Guardian. So...naturally, I'm not contractually obligated to help resolve Singularities that occur outside my designated territories. Which then means that I don't see the point in me resuming this work any further, or at least not until another Singularity happens to show up in my area. And unless SHIVA specifically says that there's gonna be another singularity in this area like it did with the one that Alter showed up in, I'd rather terminate the duration of this contract now."

At the mention of this, Tamamo next to me whines out suddenly and loudly,

"E-End the contract _now?!_ B-But I just _got_ here...!"

"Master, by 'terminate the contract', you don't mean...?" Lily asks lightly, also with a near-horrified look on her face.

"Yeah, it's...it's what it sounds like," I nod with one of those what-can-you-do kind of shrugs.

"But...but why?" Lily clearly isn't going to let this go without a good answer. In all fairness, she shouldn't.

"I have other responsibilities as Resident Guardian, and I have my own life to lead with my own long-term goals in mind. Something like a Holy Grail War, no matter how modified, is gonna throw a huge wrench into the plans that I've got and the agenda that I have because no matter how you look at it, it's gonna have to be a huge commitment," I shake my head as I explain. "That's why I'm a contractual mage; I only help out when it immediately affects me and the territories that I preside over. If it doesn't affect me directly, it's...not really my problem, and it sounds cold, but in my experience, if I get tied up with something that I shouldn't necessarily get involved in, it might get me involved in another thing, and then another, until it just kinda spirals outta control. I have to draw the line somewhere, and it's better to draw that line sooner rather than later because the mess that I find in my hands when I do draw that line won't be as big of a nightmare to deal with compared to if I were to keep going."

I glance down at the back of my right hand, at the Command Seals that rest there.

"...and besides, you can most definitely find a more talented Master out there," I shrug again, glancing back up at Saber Lily. "There's always someone stronger."

"But you can't just dump me the _instant_ you summon me! That's just mean!" Tamamo starts shaking me a little in her indignant vehemence that is completely understandable, and I definitely feel bad for her now that I've said my intentions.

"I think there's Command Seal Transferring, right? If I've read up on the rules of the Holy Grail War properly..." I suggest. "So all of you don't _have_ to go back to the Throne of Heroes or whatever, I can just pass the Mastership to someone else that Chaldea approves."

"But I was summoned to _you!_ I don't wanna have to go to someone else!" Tamamo cries. "Master, you're a meanie! Selfish! Stupid! 馬鹿、馬鹿、馬鹿！"

She starts whapping me on the side of the head with the bottoms of her fists. Her doing this skews my glasses on my nose, so I just take off my glasses to compensate.

"Well...Chaldea _does_ allow for Mastership Transfer in special circumstances, but...you'd have to get that approved by Ms. Olga," Matthew murmurs rather dejectedly. "And the Mastership Transfer process itself would be much simpler if there were only one or two Servants summoned through FATE. But now that you have three, it's going to be increasingly difficult; that, and I'm actually not sure if you can transfer the Mastership of Lady Alter at all, because you established a contract with her directly."

"But I thought the rules of the Holy Grail War allow for transferring of Servants and Masters so long as both parties agree to a mutual contract?" I ask.

"Yes, but...the problem with that is that this Holy Grail War is far from the norm. That rule _may_ not apply in the way that we know."

"Then I guess we'll have to find out ourselves to confirm."

"Awwwww, come _oooon,_ you can't just do this! I came all the way out here to save you, and then this's what I get? Bad, bad, bad Master! Bad! Bad!" Tamamo evolves to slapping the side of my head with her detached sleeves until it starts knocking my cap around.

"Master, please, please reconsider," Lily begs in complete earnest, her bright and young green eyes staring past my glasses and straight into my soul. "We really like it here, and - and we've only been here a few days! Isn't this...too soon...?"

"Yeah, yeah, what she said! And plus, you'll be abandoning everyone else here too! How does that make you feel?" Tamamo pouts hard at me, trying her best to guilt-trip the fuck out of me.

"Master, while I wish to respect your decisions, I would also have to advise against terminating this contract early," Artoria says professionally. "While there have been cases of Mastership Transfers in past Holy Grail Wars, they are still very rare, and for good reason. Mana flow conflicts can be and usually are rather dangerous, especially when the previous Master is still alive and active, and the strength of the Servants can determine how well they fare. I can speak for myself and Alter when I say that the two of us will be able to handle the stress of a Transfer just fine, but the same cannot be said of Lily."

"And if you wish to transfer Mastership over us to another, then I see no reason why I should not finish what we started this night right this instant," Saber Alter hisses threateningly, clutching the crossguard of Dark Excalibur tensely, but she still keeps the sword by her hip. "There will be no need for you to terminate this contract if I should simply do so for you instead."

Honestly, Saber Alter's reasoning is probably the most convincing. Sure dug myself a hole with her, huh?

Sighing, I raise my hands up like I'm being held at gunpoint. Well, Saber Alter most definitely is, anyway.

"A'ight, a'ight...we'll stay like this for now. But I'm gonna wanna talk to Olga tonight when we get back home so that I can talk this out with her," I tell Matthew, glancing over at her.

"Yaaaay! Master, don't you worry, I'm gonna do _suuuuuch_ a good job being your wife that you won't _ever_ think about ending our contract!" Tamamo cheers while her big ol' fluffy tail spins clockwise round and round like a helicopter rotor blade.

I want to ask her what her deal is with her and being my wife when I've made no such marital commitments in my life yet, but I'm a little preoccupied with thinking about what I'll ask Olga that I don't really pay it much heed.

* * *

"W-W-W- _What is thiiiiiiiiiiiis!"_

We're back in our living room again, either seated on the couches or on the carpet on which the big glass table in the middle stands. I'm sitting on the carpet while everyone else but Tamamo sits on the couches. Tamamo, naturally, is sitting next to me, looking horrified at the squarish piece of white bread that she's bitten into a little and is now currently holding in her hand, and everyone is staring at her.

"What?" I ask with the most nonchalant of responses, chewing on my own squarish piece of bread while waiting for Matthew to establish a call to Chaldea so that I can speak with Olga.

Tamamo instantly darts her eyes over to me. The look in her eyes can only be described as furiously burning indignance...but that wouldn't be the first time today.

"Why are you so good at cooking, Masteeeeeeeeeeeeer!?" Tamamo wails, but not before she noms the rest of her piece of bread and savoring the flavor with almost childish delight.

On the glass table I've prepared a large plate filled with small bite-sized pieces of carefully cut white bread and King's Hawaiian bread. The white bread I glazed lightly and evenly with butter and very lightly fried to give them a heavenly golden texture and crispiness, and the Hawaiian bread I also applied butter to, but rather than fry, because Hawaiian bread doesn't take too kindly to being fried, I turned into sandwiches by first inserting small slices of Swiss cheese, then popping into the microwave to heat up so that the cheese can melt nicely inside the bread, then inserting cooked slices of ham and pepperoni.

"They're just snacks," I shrug. "Can't judge someone's cooking ability just by how they prepare snacks, right?"

"But just from tasting it, it's obvious that you know how to cook!" Tamamo argues. "Master, how much do you know how to cook? Please tell me!"

"Well, I can cook, and everyone here can testify to that, but why does that matter?"

 _"Because if you know how to cook better than me, then I've already halfway failed at being your wife!"_ Tamamo practically breathes down my neck.

I stare at her awkwardly, because now she's holding her face about an inch away from mine.

"...is that a _problem_?" I ask her, raising my left eyebrow very, very slowly.

 **"Yes,"** Tamamo replies instantly, nodding so hugely that her pink bangs slap my glasses. **"Yes, Master, that is a very, _very_ big problem, and I don't think you understand."**

"Yeah, I don't...think I do, either..."

"Senpai, I've got Ms. Olga on the line now," Matthew announces, setting her hologram projection on the glass table and facing it towards me and Tamamo, and Caster reluctantly pulls away so that I can sit up properly to speak to Olga, ruffling my standard Asian black hair back in place. Technically it's very dark brown if you hold it up closely to light, but no one's going to care enough to verify that.

 _"It's very late over there, Mr. Il. What would you ask of me at this hour?"_ Olga demands in her strict, ear-piercing voice as usual. Her accent is mostly American, but a little bit of heightened British enunciation bleeds through in some syllables.

"It's gonna be a quick question, don't worry," I reply swiftly. "You're already aware of the fact that the Singularity you reported that was detected in my area is now resolved, yes?"

 _"And you are wondering why FATE is still active, and we still insist on summoning you more Servants?"_

"Right. The terms of the contract I signed with Chaldea specifically states that I will only resolve Singularities that occur in the areas over which I preside as Resident Guardian. I've also made this very clear to you when we were negotiating the terms of the contract in person."

 _"Ah yes, I'm very much aware. But the thing is, the contract that you signed also specified that I, as the current President and CEO of Chaldea Security Organization, am free to change the terms of this contract in response to the situation at hand as I see fit."_

I immediately hunch forward at the hologram communicator. Olga is blatantly lying to me; I don't remember reading anything that suggested that in the contract that I signed with her in Zurich.

"I didn't read anything like that during negotiations. I wanna see that contract right now," I demand quietly, but my voice is firm and clear.

 _"Unfortunately, at this time, your contract cannot be viewed as we are currently undergoing a site-wide organizational overhaul. If you would like to see it at a later time, you may contact me again in the future."_

That's bullshit; she must have tampered with the contract so that she can basically force me to do whatever she wants me to do. And since this is a magical security organization we're talking about, and given the fact that Olga herself is a mage, she most likely ended up magically altering it and is now in the process of ensuring that there's nothing I can do to prove that it was ever tampered with, even if I were to get a hold of it physically somehow.

But I don't show my sharp anger at this on my face; the only response I make physically is just a small squint of my eyes, a look of annoyed suspicion and distrust. Perhaps Olga senses this too, because she sighs and then continues with:

 _"I was going to send you a letter about the situation very soon, but now that we are on a call right now, I might as well share this with you now: at this moment in time, you are our only contractual mage whom we believe is capable of handling the Singularities that will appear in the near future."  
_

Who the hell's "we"? Neither Da Vinci nor Roman have anything to do with Chaldea's operational decisions, that's Olga's job.

"That can't be true," I shake my head quickly back at Olga. "Chaldea has plenty of contractual mages from whom they can request services. You're telling me that all of a sudden, none of 'em're available anymore? Most of 'em would fuckin' kill to have an opportunity like I've been given if that's what you told 'em to do, and I'm sure _some_ of 'em're just as good as me, if not more."

 _"Well, your assumption wouldn't be correct, because judging on the resumes of our catalogued contractual mages, you stand head and shoulders above the rest of everyone else. While it's true that you have no familial pedigree and you operate using an unorthodox system of magic, your resume suggests that you are highly effective in your operations no matter what kind it is. Such flexibility has always been quite rare to find, given the fact that most mages would rather shut themselves up in clock towers somewhere to devote their whole lives to nothing but their own stupid research..."_

I roll my eyes slowly. Whatever the case, the fact that Olga's fucked with the contract means that there's nothing I can do to get out of this. Which sucks, but it's either I shut up and deal with my current situation - which isn't bad by any means, mind you, at least as of right now - or risk having Chaldea throw their shit at me. I think I've had enough experience being on the run, and I like being able to live without having to sleep with one eye open, thanks very much. But I'm still gonna probably fly out to Chaldea sometime and demand to see the contract I signed with them anyway.

"Fine. Do you know when the next singularity's gonna be? And where?" I ask, making only a half-assed effort to mask the groan that I let out while talking.

 _"Currently we do not know; Dr. Archaman and Da Vinci are both on the case, and they will let you know once they discover the origin."_

"And I'm bein' told that the rest of the Singularities can literally be anywhere around the world, that correct?"

 _"Yes."_

"Fuck."

 _"Again, like I've said before, Mr. Il, Chaldea will compensate you for the hours that you will have to lose in your line of business - "_

"Then where's the twenty-six thousand nine-fifty that I was promised earlier this year in 'compensation'?"

The projection is gone. Olga's disconnected the call on her end while I was talking about my earlier promised compensations.

"...is...everything alright, Master?" Lily asks meekly as she and the rest of the girls watch me lower my head, running my hand over my head and through my hair with visible but mute frustration.

"...no, but...I'll be fine," I grumble a little, unable to really hide the supreme annoyance I'm feeling at the moment, but I don't want to show that to the girls because they're all innocent and deserve none of my own indignance. "I'll think of something. I always do...somehow..."

I get up from the carpet, and as I turn around to walk away, I hear Tamamo also get up.

"Master, where are you going...?" she asks, and she sounds genuinely worried for me. Which makes me feel bad that I'm just leaving the girls here in the living room so abruptly, but...I need some time to consider this.

"To my room, gotta figure some shit out. I'll probably head to sleep really soon, since it's already late and tomorrow's Monday," I call back to them as I slowly start walking up the stairs to the second floor. "You girls should get some rest, too..."


	23. Home Invader

Laying in bed underneath the sheet in my pitch-dark room, I suddenly find myself awake. I should be sleeping right now, but it seems I've sensed someone in the bed with me.

I instantly throw myself out of the sheets, ripping myself out of whosever grasp it is who's with me in my own bed, pushing off to my left and twisting my body over in the same direction to plant my feet firmly onto the carpeted floor of my room. In this sudden feat of reactive acrobatics, I also produce the storage rune that allows me access to my magically powered handguns, even if they're stored in their gun cases in the closet, with my right hand to draw Mustang and snap the sights up at this unknown entity in my bed. The jolt of adrenaline that my body produces accelerates the construction of the night vision runes that I produce over my eyes, similar to the runes that help keep my glasses on my face in battle, and with them, I quickly make out the shape of a girl with fluffy animal ears.

"A-Ah, did I scare you, Master...?"

It's Tamamo. And I have questions.

Snapping my fingers with the hand that isn't the one holding my handgun, I turn on the lights magically and narrow my eyes with the sudden burst of light that floods my room. I mentally run a magic diagnostic that creates a thin disc of a rune that quickly sweeps my body from head to toe to check if Tamamo's done something suspicious to me, and the small blue panel that emerges into view to my left at about a foot's length away from my left shoulder reports that indeed, Caster hasn't done anything weird to me.

"Mmm...I guess you aren't that comfortable around me yet..." Trying to force a friendly smile, Tamamo murmurs with noticeable concern, gazing over at me as I glance at the clock that hangs high up on the wall over my desk. It's almost four in the morning - specifically about ten minutes 'til.

"What are you doing in my room?" I demand of her, but I speak politely so as not to sound hostile; even still, I make sure that Tamamo senses the seriousness in my voice.

"Well...I didn't necessarily have a room for myself, so...naturally, the next best thing is my husband's room, right?" Tamamo cheerfully suggests, raising an index finger matter-of-factly and with a reinvigorated smile. She sits up properly and assumes a seiza position right on my bed as she says this, and she hits me with a very cute head tilt too. She's quite the formidable opponent when it comes to the art of Moe...or so my more weaboo friends would say.

"Ah, sorry about that. The, uh, conversation I had with that Olga lady kinda put me in a bit of a bad mood, so I forgot to assign you a room for yourself. My bad about that," I apologize with a quick sigh, slipping my gun back into its magical storage rune. It's worth noting that Tamamo didn't flinch at all at the sight of me pulling my gun on her - maybe she just doesn't know what it is. "How'd you even get in here, by the way?"

I ask her this because I have my entire house, especially my own rune, set up with surveillance runes so that if there's an event where someone enters the vicinity or attempts to enter, I'll be notified immediately. Since I know for a fact that I locked the door when I went to sleep for the night, Tamamo must've broken in somehow without me noticing; but while I ask her this, I notice that my door seems perfectly normal, with no signs of magical or physical damage.

"Oh, uh...ahaha..." Tamamo gives me this awkward laughter, sticking the tip of her tongue out of her lips in a bit of a bashful grin. "I accidentally destroyed the spells that were on the door when I put my hand on the doorknob, haha..."

I stare at her for a moment, then hurry over to the door. Sure enough, when I inspect it, the runes that were on the door are completely done, like Tamamo just took a giant whiteboard eraser and just wiped the whole door down with it. Shit.

Without saying anything, I raise my hands and immediately begin reconstructing the spells. I can sense Tamamo's gaze from my bed as I stand in my t-shirt and basketball shorts before my own bedroom door, quickly writing and applying vicinity detection spells to the door again. In the middle of my work, I think about how it could be that Tamamo could just obliterate my spells so easily and without me noticing, but then I consider the fact that Tamamo's divinity as a mythological Japanese fox deity might have something to do with it. My best hypothesis is that Tamamo's divinity alone must have wrecked my spells, and that her divinity is just too strong for an artificial magic like the one I practice to handle.

"Um, Master, even if you set those spells up again, won't I just...destroy them again if I touch the doorknob again?" Tamamo innocently points out.

And she's totally right. Now that she's in here, there's no point in me reconstructing these spells.

Sighing deeply this time, I cease my work midway through, deleting the unfinished spells from my sight and letting the spells I've already applied be, since they're just gonna get wrecked by Tamamo again when she leaves.

"...I didn't know that I'd destroy them...sorry, Master..." Tamamo whines quietly, just like an apologetic fox. I wouldn't know what foxes sound like when they're apologetic, but I guess I have an idea now. "I'd offer to repair what I'd done, but...since it seems like this whole house's covered with your spells, I'm afraid that if I try to help out, my spells'll just destroy everything..."

I head over to the other side of the bed from her to sit down, but I make sure to leave some distance between the two of us, putting back on my glasses.

"That's fine, I'll fix them after you leave," I shake my head quickly. "And is it alright if I ask you what your deal is with you and callin' me your husband?"

Tamamo's face lights up, and her folding ears snap back upright as soon as I ask this.

"It's because I want to be as faithful to my Master as possible!" she explains quite cheerfully and wholesomely; I can't detect any ounce of malicious intent or deception in her voice as I listen. "And what better way to do that than to proclaim myself as my Master's wife?"

This is quite the conversation to have while the two of us are sitting on my own queen-size bed, lemme tell ya.

"So...if your Master were a girl, then what?" I ask. I'm well aware that this is a rather aimless question I'm asking, but I can't help but ask anyway.

"So what?" Tamamo freely replies without any hesitation whatsoever. "I would still serve my Master as her wife."

A legendary Japanese fox deity being completely okay with either a heterosexual or homosexual relationship; that's something I suppose I can respect due to her firm dedication. I still find her insistence on becoming her Master's wife no matter what a little unsettling, though.

"But I get the sense that you don't...really like it that I'm calling myself your wife?" Tamamo's bright facade fades considerably.

"I just find it a little weird that someone whom I haven't even known for...more than four hours is tryin'a get me in a marital relationship with her," I reply honestly. "That, and I'm quite the introvert, if you couldn't tell already from me pulling a gun on you the moment I realized someone was in my bed with me..."

Tamamo tilts her head again, just ever so slightly, and I notice that her big ol' fluffy tail is waving to and fro slowly as she listens to me talk.

"You're not very good with people you don't know, huh," she smiles just a little bit painfully. Seeing her make that expression definitely twists a muscle in my heart somewhere, because I've had many bad experiences when I was still in grade school that stemmed from my past inability to open up to people, which I'm still not very good at even to this day, admittedly.

"No. Never have been all my life, if I'll be honest. So you can see how I don't really match up well with someone like you."

Tamamo's fluffy tail slows to a stop, resting against the folded covers of the bed, and her fluffy fox ears also droop almost to forty-five degree angles. But this doesn't last long, secretly to my relief, and they perk back up.

"That's okay. That just makes it all the more worth it for me to try to work to earn your trust!" Tamamo comes to this optimistic conclusion as she nods to herself, armed with this encouraging revelation. "I can sense that you're a strong Master, so I'll do my best to do everything I can to assist you, Master!"

She hits me with a teeth-rottingly sweet smile and another dangerous head tilt that could slay the hearts of a thousand weaboos. Between hers and Saber Lily's, I don't know which one is sweeter. And I don't want to be forced to choose.

"Thanks."

I tell her this, but some of her words make me think - she said that she could sense that I was a strong Master, while I haven't been told that by any of the Artoria's during the few days I've had with them. The one exception could be Saber Alter, because I guess she's acknowledged that I'm a strong Master or something like that and wants to see exactly how strong...or, again, something like that. So I decide to ask her,

"How did you know that I was a strong Master? Or is that just something you believe?"

"Hmmm..." Tamamo starts rubbing her chin thoughtfully, closing her eyes in thought while having this slightly exaggerated look of somewhat deep thought on her face. It's about as serious as the expression of someone seriously considering the educational merit of internet memes. "When I was summoned, I sensed that the person who'd be my Master was a strong person, I guess...? I don't know, it's weird...but I guess because this's a weird kind of Holy Grail War, I shouldn't be surprised, right?"

"Yeah, tell me about it. Masters're only supposed to have like one Servant each in a normal Holy Grail War, and here I am with four. Five, if you count Matthew."

"Muuuu," Tamamo pouts in a low tone of voice, looking obviously a little disappointed.

"You sound disappointed."

"I am. Because that means that I can't have you all to myself, y'know?"

"I think I'll need some time before I commit to any marital relationships, though. Don't know how ready I am for that just yet."

"Oyo?"

Tamamo suddenly puts on this very devious face, like a fox that's just decided to go on the hunt.

"Then should I show you how ready _I_ am? Maybe that'll convince you, Master," she suggests...suggestively. She leans in slowly towards me as she says this.

I swiftly raise a hand up at her to halt her in her tracks. "I'm good."

"I-Instant rejection?!" she squeals a little, looking as if she's just had her tail stepped on. "M-Master, you can't be...?"

"I can't be what?"

Tamamo leans in again with plenty of drama and flair:

 _"You're - you're not into other men, are you?!"_

I stare back at her. My mind has difficulty trying to process Tamamo's logic that's lead her to this conclusion. In fact, it makes my head hurt. I think I'll stop.

"No, I prefer girls..." I say slowly, wondering just what kind of a trap Tamamo might be verbally leading me into. "...and besides, if you're okay with a lesbian relationship, what kind of a problem do you have with a gay one?"

"Because, because!" Tamamo shakes her fists up and down, "if you're gay, then that means you won't take me as your wife! If you were a girl, then there wouldn't be a problem at all!"

...I _guess_ that makes sense...?

Shaking my head again, I attempt to return the two of us back on topic before we go down this rabbit hole past the point of no return.

"So anyways, when you summoned me, you sensed that I was strong, so you came? Or something like that?"

"Mhm!" Caster's fluffy ears wiggle in confirmation along with the nod that she gives me. "I mean, normally I wouldn't mind what kind of Master I get so long as their intentions are good, but I guess something about you really convinced me to show up!"

"...how vague."

"I like the mystery, though. That means there's a lot to learn about you, Master. And the journey to getting to know you is always the fun part, isn't it?"

I mean, she's not wrong.

"That's fine 'n all, but I'm not sure if I'm the most qualified to be called 'strong'," I say a little bit more softly. This is quickly reminding me of the conversation I had with Saber Lily earlier yesterday.

"But I can feel it, Master. You _are_ strong," Tamamo smiles much more warmly at me. I get the sense that she's trying to cheer me up or something. "I'd never lie to you, but I especially wouldn't lie to you when I say that I was summoned because I know that you're both a good and strong person."

Strong and good. Two adjectives that I'd yet to hear be used to describe me in recent memory until now.

"But...hmm, your mana is a bit weird...it's definitely not normal..." Tamamo ponders quietly. "But that's just a minor detail. Even if _you_ don't think so, I'm confident that you are."

No hesitation, and no remorse. Complete faith in someone whom she's only known for barely four hours. It both scares me and impresses me, because that's not something I could ever bring myself to do.

"Well, I'd love to keep chatting, but it's late and I need to get some sleep. I can set up a room for you so that you ca - "

"No! I wanna sleep with you, Master!" Tamamo insists, pouting indignantly, as if offended that I'd dare suggest throwing her out of my room. "And besides, how can a young man like yourself say no to a cute fox girl like me? Isn't it like the dream of all young men to want to go to bed with cute Casko?"

"Who's Casko?"

"Me!"

First Caster, because she's my first Caster Servant, then Tamamo, then Casko. Should I start calling her Tammy too?

Still pouting, Tamamo wiggles her detached sleeves in my general direction.

"If you're worried that I might do something bad to you, just know that if I ever _was_ planning on doing something like that, which I never would, by the way, it'd be _suuuuper_ self-defeating because you're the one who's providing the mana for us to be here! Without you, we'd all be recalled, just like that!" Caster insists.

"Yeah, but that's...that still doesn't make it any less weird that a girl I haven't known for more than four hours is still sharin' the same bad as me."

"But doesn't the youth culture of this country and era encourage young males to bed beautiful females and earn questionable livings?"

I give Tamamo the strangest look of the night.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Servants come equipped with general knowledge of the era into which they're summoned, so..."

"No, I wouldn't...call that 'general knowledge'..."

"Well, it must be, since I know about it."

Sighing once more, I find myself shaking my head.

"Even if you say that, I personally find it weird."

Tamamo falls silent for a moment.

"...then...are you gonna kick this pour shrine maiden out of your room...?" she frowns very sadly, lowering her gaze considerably and staring down at the mattress. If that's supposed to be a shrine maiden outfit that she's wearing, then color me surprised.

Do I want to kick her out? Naturally, Tamamo being an incredibly beautiful and also quite a cute girl, I'd rather not. But even if she is my Servant, even if she really has no reason to harm me, I still find myself extremely hesitant on letting her sleep by my side, in the same bed. Placing my trust in someone who's quite obviously stronger than myself, that they won't take my life when I'm vulnerable, isn't something that I'm willing to risk without a second thought. And nothing against her personally, but I also personally find her mentality of wanting to be my wife without even knowing what kind of a person I am very unsettling. Maybe it's because that's not what "common sense" in this day and age really dictates, and that I'm just not open-minded enough, but if that's the case, then I'm not sure if I can help that.

But the main issue here for me is the trust. I've dealt with unreasonable people in the line of my business, so while Tamamo is certainly unique in her personality, at the end of the day I know I can learn to deal with it, and compared to other people I've had to deal with, she's nowhere near as aggravating with whom to interact. And I, being a mere human being, would find it strange if I were to start telling a Japanese fox deity how to behave and such; she can act however she damn well likes, so long as I don't find anything glaringly wrong with her behavior. It's the trust that I lack with her in this four-hour-old relationship; I have nothing to convince me that Tamamo won't do something to me, and the fact that she's so obviously stronger than me in terms of magical prowess doesn't help my case either. Even if she weren't stronger than me, I'd still have a problem.

Do I risk it?

I find myself gazing at Tamamo intently, and I don't know for how long I've been doing so. Maybe it's because of my tiredness that I've very briefly lost my sense of time or self, but I also find that Caster is averting her gaze from me with a heavy blush in her cheeks. I'm embarrassing her, it seems, with this stare. It's not because I'm checking her out, but because I'm thinking about whether or not she can be trustworthy, but I'm not even going to attempt to explain that because who the hell will believe me.

Knowing that I've got to get some sleep so that I can get up early in the morning to get back to work, I decide to just let her do what she wants. I've already come far enough in life that me dying here wouldn't be the worst way for me to go. I've also already prepared things for the event that I do die, things will take care of themselves even after I'm gone. It's a good thing I've never gotten that dog or cat that I'd always kind of wished I had.

Snapping my fingers up at the light in the middle of the ceiling, I turn off the lights and slip my legs back underneath the covers, prepping my small pillow and resting the back of my head against it.

"Help yourself," I say simply, making myself comfortable again.

With an ecstatic squeal, Tamamo throws the covers over herself as she, too, slips herself in and immediately latches onto my right arm. I almost instantly begin to regret my decision when she does this, but I resist the temptation to do so.

"I promise you, Master, I'll do everything that I can to make sure that you recognize me as your wife, okay~?" she coos to me softly into my right ear. The way she says this makes her words worm into my brain, like they're trying to infect my hearing with it so that I can't ever forget them, and it honestly makes me cringe a little, but I don't let it show. "If there's anything you ask of me outside of normal Servant duties, feel free to let me know, mkaaay?"

By this point, I can feel my right arm begin to get sucked into a soft chasm somewhere in her chest. Ah, yes, as a man, I think I know what that chasm is.

But even more than that, something else concerns me, and I'm not sure if that's something to be worried about, that something else could distract me more than the fact that my right arm is being squeezed in between a cute girl's breasts, only separated by a fine, silky royal blue cloth.

"Are you still wearing the same clothes, by the way?" I ask aloud in the darkness.

At this, Casko snickers teasingly. "Ohoho, are you already starting to open up to me, Master?" she coos again. "Would you rather that I take off my clothes then...? Because I can do that for you ~ "

"Never mind." I make a mental note to myself to put the sheets in the laundry tomorrow.

"If it's because you think my clothes are dirty, worry not, Master, because we Servants can cleanse ourselves, body and clothes and all, with our own mana," Tamamo reassures me, as if sensing my intentions through and through anyway. "So there shouldn't be any problems with me joining you directly in bed."

"I'll still get you some bedclothes later, though."

"Oh? Like what?"

"I mean, just a t-shirt and some shorts would be enough. I go to sleep like this every night, t-shirt and basketball shorts."

"Whatever you'd like for me, Master ~ "

Tamamo nuzzles her face against my shoulder, and silence resumes in my room.

I quickly assume that, now that I've let Tamamo stake her claim in my own room, that it'll be impossible, or at the very least unreasonable, for me to demand her to leave later. I suppose this does save me the trouble of creating her own room using artificial magical space, but I think I would have preferred that, at least for now until I can get to know Tamamo a bit better, and at least build up some semblance of trust with her. This general uncomfortableness is giving me some difficulty sleeping, which I expected, but that doesn't make it any less a pain in the butt to handle.

I guess I should look at it this way: going to bed with a cute girl you've only known for four hours is infinitely better than going to sleep inside a large cardboard box inside an abandoned warehouse with questionable structural integrity with nothing but a moldy sheet of newspaper as a blanket. The sad thing is, I'd go to sleep faster in the latter.

Things can always be worse.


	24. Kitchen Competition

April 24th.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

I'm speaking in Korean right now, on the phone with a Korean guy who's the manager of a trucking company that I work with; my dad knew him personally, and in inheriting the business, naturally I also inherited his contacts.

 _"Yes, I'm really sorry to tell you this - "_

"Don't be sorry, Mr. Song, give me the details."

 _"Right. When our trucker returned from the exam site to our warehouse, when our men unloaded the pallets, they found them damaged. The most visible form of damage is crushing; the first three pallets have their tops crushed, and the other two have the packaging ripped and torn."_

"Can you send me photos?" I ask strongly, moving quickly to pull over to my desk the file of the container of the pallets being discussed so that I can write down what's going on; my eyes flick up to my clock up on the wall above my desk, and the time reads about a quarter past eleven. "Take photos of the damage and send them to me."

 _"I can't take pictures right now, the camera on my phone isn't working."_

"Then fucking get someone to take pictures of this shit!" I groan irritably, hastily scribbling messy notes onto the interior of the manila folder with a red pen. Normally I'd take time to write, because normally my handwriting is very messy, but now my old handwriting is rearing its ugly head.

 _"Uh - "_

"Mr. Song, you're telling me that _no one_ at your 3PL has a camera? If _your_ smartphone isn't working, then _someone's_ might!"

 _"Uh, okay, okay, I'll check, just - just give me a moment."_

I immediately set down the phone receiver and practically jab the speaker phone button on the phone, which is an old-fashioned home phone station that my dad used for as long as I can remember, and since it works just fine even after all these years, I've never had a reason to go out and replace it. The reason why I'm suddenly so triggered is because right now, from what I've heard from Mr. Song, there's no immediate source of blame; the damage that these pallets have received is too ambiguous just from what I'm being told for me to accurately diagnose who could be responsible. Damage of the contents of containers is nothing new, but usually it's either not significant damage or can be easily diagnosed and pinned to a responsible party so that compensation can be processed and all that; it's still a pain in the ass to process completely, but in the end they all eventually get done. But a situation like this where there _is_ significant damage _and_ there's no immediately evident responsible party is just a can of worms that I really didn't want to have to open today. And what especially ticks me off is that I _just_ got done with _another_ shipment that was a major pain in the ass to have to deal with, and I still haven't shaken off the salt that I accrued since then.

Fiddling with the papers inside the manila folder of the pallets that have been reported damaged just now, I scribble down some more notes. If Mr. Song can't get me photos of the damages, I've got no choice but to head down to the 3PL warehouse to take pictures of the damages myself. That, and I'm gonna have to deal with a potentially extremely angry consignee who's probably gonna give me hella shit for these damages. And in case you're wondering why I can't just use magic to figure out who's responsible for the damages, I _could_ , but that's not going to help me convince anyone involved in this fiasco that one particular party or another is the one responsible, because magic.

 _"Mr. Il?"_

I immediately dart my hand forward and practically shove my finger against the speaker phone button and snatch up the phone.

"Yes?"

 _"Unfortunately none of my truckers have their phones on them so we can't take pictures right now. If you wait about another two hours, I can have the driver go get his phone from the hub and - "_

"Two hours?"

 _"Uh, yes, two hours, I thi - "_

 **"Two hours?"**

 _"I'm really sorry about this, Mr. Il, we didn't expect this to happen. You know how this works, they load the contents of the container from the exam site directly to the truck without letting us see it unless we have the driver specifically ask to check the contents, so we didn't find out until we reached the 3PL."  
_

"I'll be there in an hour," I growl loudly. "Don't touch the pallets until I get there and have someone watch the pallets so that no one _else_ can damage them even _more_. Am I clear, Mr. Song?"

 _"Yes, yes. We'll be ready for you once you arrive."_

"Thanks, then. See you in an hour."

I basically toss the phone receiver back onto its station and then swiftly stack up the papers of the manila folder before putting the folder away on its rack. The silver lining is that this's come at the end of my morning shift, so this is the last thing I've had to take care of, more or less. I'll eat lunch and immediately head out.

Getting up from my seat and shutting down my work computer for now, I change clothes to my usual outdoor stuff and hurry downstairs. The moment I step foot outside of my room, I'm hit with the warm, fluffy smell of freshly prepared rice. It's white rice, I can tell just by the smell alone. After having subsisted on purple rice mixed with beans for the past month to add some hefty nutrition to my rice intake, it's an instinctual relief for me that white rice is being prepared again today. This is totally ignoring the fact that I've been feeding the girls white rice this entire time that they've been here because I'm not sure how kindly they'll take to the purple rice that I'm used to.

"Ah, good morning, Master!" Lily receives me warmly as usual at the bottom of the stairs, having heard me stomping around in my room, since my master bedroom is right above the living room where the Artoria's are watching television, I presume. I wonder briefly to myself if I'll ever get used to the feeling of having a cute girl tell me good morning every time I come down the stairs. I think the answer to that will always be no.

"Hey, what's up," I give her a quick grin. I thought it'd be a little hard to mask my annoyance from work, but Lily's smile heals the salt in my veins a lot more effectively than I thought. Hm, maybe I do have a heart after all. But I won't get ahead of myself.

"How was work this morning?" Lily's smile somehow grows even warmer as we head over to the kitchen. An even more unexpected question that I never expected to hear in my life, ever.

"It was..." I grimace. "...it wasn't great. In fact, I actually have to head out soon for something related to work..."

"Ah, then we'll go with you," Lily still says cheerfully. Her cheerfulness is contagious, and I can't help but cease feeling annoyed. Maybe it's because I know that I'd feel bad if I accidentally spread my bad vibes to someone like Lily, or maybe it's that I'm just not experienced hanging out around people like Lily who just exude good vibes normally. It's probably a mixture of a whole bunch of factors, as it always is.

We head into the kitchen, and I find both Tamamo and Matthew preparing lunch, working as a tag team of sorts to get lunch ready.

"Master, good mooooorning ~ " Tamamo sings as she dances over to me, wearing my dad's old apron over her usual clothes. "I had to borrow this, so I hope you don't mind ~ "

"Yeah, it's fine, go ahead," I nod quickly at her, but as I try to step past her so that I can give the girls a hand, Tamamo immediately traces my path and sidesteps to block me.

"Uh-uh. You're gonna let _us_ cook," Tamamo sternly shakes her head at me. "Matthew's told me everything, about how you've been cooking for everyone. I can't let that happen, you know!"

I frown deeply at her. "...is there a problem with me cooking for my Servants?" I ask rather suspiciously.

"Yes, because that's _my_ job as your wife!" Tamamo insists. "If you're the one cooking for everyone, that's gonna put me out of business! And besides, there's nothing in your refrigerator that has anything I can make a nice, Japanese meal out of!"

I rub my eyebrows for a moment. _That's_ what she's irritated about?

"Um, Lady Tamamo, you have to understand, Senpai isn't Japanese..." Matthew tries coming to my rescue.

"Not Japanese?! But - but - but then why does he have a rice cooker? And rice?" Tamamo exclaims quite emphatically, gesturing towards the rice cooker behind her and at the bag of rice behind the tall cupboard door.

"I'm Korean," I shrug.

Tamamo stares at me for a moment, and just as though someone just turned on a light in her head, her eyes open wide.

"Ohhhhh! So - so - so - " She quickly turns to the fridge, opens it up, and pulls out the big jar of kimchi. "I didn't know what this was at first when I saw it earlier today, but this - this is what they call 'kimchi', right?"

"Yeah." I'm about to ask her how she didn't manage to find miso in the fridge too, but then I realize that I'm smelling miso soup being cooked in one of the pots on the stove, so I hold that thought.

"Mmm...but I don't know to prepare Korean dishes..." Tamamo says with much concern as she puts away the jar of kimchi, closes the fridge door, and returns to the stove to mind the miso soup and the bacon and eggs on the frying pan.

"And why're you only making enough food for one person? We've got - " I take a moment to think about how many people now live in this house. " - five other people here to feed too, y'know."

"Why, I'm your wife, so it's only natural that I only cook for you, aha ~ "

Swiftly reacting, I karate-chop Tamamo lightly on the head.

"Owie! What was that for, Masterrrr..." Tamamo whines a little as I slip past her and pull out an extra two frying pans from the cupboards on my sides and set them on the stove.

"I actually don't have a lotta time right now, I've gotta head out after lunch for something work-related," I explain as I pull out a handful of eggs with one hand and the rest of the bacon in its plastic package with the other.

"B-But Master, shouldn't you let me make you something a little better than just bacon and eggs?" Tamamo worriedly asks me, but she doesn't stop me. I guess it's because she can tell that I'm not one to be stopped when I've firmly set my mind about doing things.

"Well, what do you know how to cook outside of just Japanese food?" I ask her, fixing my eyes on the frying pans as I quickly crack multiple eggs onto two of the extra pans that I've set out and lay strips of bacon in the last extra pan. I also mind the bacon and eggs that've already been set out on the pan. "And besides, even if you say that, you were clearly only making me bacon and eggs, so what gives?"

"Ah, well, I was making that for you..." Matthew interjects quickly.

"Oh. Well, don't worry about lunch for now," I just shrug at the girls before deftly beginning to pop the egg yolks with a chopstick to prepare them easy-over style, my favorite type of eggs. "Like I said just now, I have to head out for something work-related, so you girls can tag along if you want so that we can go shopping after."

"If it's shopping, may we go shop for Japanese food, Master?" Tamamo asks excitedly. "That way, I can _really_ show you what I can do!"

"Yeah, sure. I know a few Japanese markets on our way back home, so we can stop by one."

Concentrating on cooking the food, I manage all four frying pans at once. I lower the heat on the first pan that Matthew was cooking up to keep the contents warm, since they're just about done cooking anyway, and I shake some salt from the saltshaker over the eggs and then flip them with a spatula. I then turn over the strips of bacon to cook them evenly on both sides with a small pair of tongs, and I also check the miso soup pot, which Tamamo prepared already quite nicely. Giving it a quick taste test, I'm pretty sure that Tamamo's miso soup is better than mine. I swiftly reach into the cupboard and pull out a small stack of plates, counting out just enough plates for all of us and setting them on the counter next to the stove, and one by one, I stack them with eggs, perfectly fried bacon that sizzles deliciously, and fluffy warm white rice from the rice cooker.

"Lily, Matthew, take these plates and set them on the table," I instruct the girls behind me, handing them two sets of plates with rice, eggs, and bacon on them, and they swiftly take them and scoot out of the kitchen. Raising my voice, I call over to the Artoria's in the living room, "Hey, Artoria, Salter! Lunch's ready!"

I pull out small bowls from the cupboard too and fill them with miso soup from the pot with a ladle, listening to the quick steps of the two older Artoria's as they report duly for lunchtime.

"Tamamo, can you take these bowls out to the table?" I ask of my newest Servant, handing her a bowl. She takes the one that I hold out to her, but she doesn't leave right away, so I ask, "There somethin' wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing, it's just...ehe, I'm just not used to having Masters who know how to cook..." Tamamo smiles quickly and turns her back to me, but I can already tell that something is bothering her about me cooking; that's not how Tamamo would normally behave, just based off what little I know about her and her usual way of interacting with me. My gut reaction is that Tamamo, who prides herself on taking on the role of her Master's wife, seriously doesn't like it when I'm the one doing the cooking. What we discussed last night wasn't quite enough for me to come to the conclusion that Tamamo would get _distressed_ over it, and I'm afraid I'm unable to understand why. Is it because when I cook, I'm basically denying her of a responsibility that she's normally very used to monopolizing? That's pretty much the most reasonable explanation that I can arrive at, but we'll see when I talk to her later at some point...probably in bed tonight, since I can't imagine her leaving my own bedroom anytime soon.

I join the girls at the table shortly with my own plate piled with rice, bacon, eggs, and miso soup. I've also taken the time to grab a head of cabbage from the fridge and cut myself some cabbage to add some veggies to the meal. Not exactly the most well-rounded meal, but who cares when bacon's involved.

"Thank you for the food!" the girls all thank me in unison, except for Saber Alter, who's already busy stuffing her mouth with bacon and eggs and rice. As expected.

"So after this, I have to head out to take care of something related to work," I mention to my Servants to whom I haven't yet told the news. "I don't know how long it'll take, so it might end up being that we can't come back home until the evening. So I was thinking that we could eat out somewhere on the way back home to save ourselves some time and do some shopping so that Tamamo can cook something."

"I-I _can_ cook!" Tamamo protests suddenly, resuming her pouty face at me.

Turning to her while chewing on a strip of bacon, I ask her in Japanese,

"What, what's wrong?"

Tamamo recoils visibly, like she's dodging a flying baseball.

"M-Master, y-you can speak Japanese...?!" she cries out in sheer surprise. Given that we've been speaking English to each other all this time ever since we met last night, I suppose this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

I nod silently.

"But you said you were Korean!"

"What's wrong with a Korean who can speak Japanese?"

"W-Well, there's nothing particularly _wrong_ with that, it's just...surprising..." Tamamo fidgets in her chair on my right, shyly nibbling on a chopstickful of rice. "That's all..."

I tilt my head questioningly at her, though she doesn't notice right away because she's focused on staring down at her own plate. She's bold enough (or simply doesn't give a fuck) to climb into the same bed as her Master, yet she gets all embarrassed when she finds out that he can speak the same language as her? Color me confused.

"Ah, for your reference, Master, we can speak Japanese too," Artoria informs me, also speaking in fluent Japanese on her part. My own eyes widen in surprise too, but I don't react as badly as Tamamo does.

"King Arthur can speak Japanese?" I wonder aloud. "Didn't expect that."

"It is due to our past experiences in previous Holy Grail Wars," she explains first in Japanese, then switches to English. "Although, I am afraid that Lily does not know how to speak the tongue, for she is me when I was much younger and less experienced."

"Ehe...I'm...I'm sorry," Lily apologizes shyly, bowing her head a little at me. For someone who didn't understand the first half of what we were talking about, she sure grasped it quickly.

"Oh, and of course, _she_ can speak it as well," Artoria nods to her left at Saber Alter, though noticeably less cordially.

"Cool. I'll keep that in mind in case we need to, uh, speak more stealthily, I guess..." I chuckle a little.

"Master, what summons you from your abode this afternoon? An enemy?" Salter asks, her plate already almost halfway cleared.

"No, no, it's for work. You didn't hear, huh?"

Salter shakes her head immediately. Food occupies a higher priority slot in her mind over her Master's words, apparently. Aren't you a Heroic Spirit?

"Master needs to leave immediately after lunch to handle a part of his work elsewhere, and he suggested that we eat outside this evening because he believes that we'll return home at a later time," Matthew summarizes my news for Salter quickly.

"Eat outside..." Salter murmurs. Of course _that's_ the one thing she listens to. "Very well. Allow me to accompany you, Master."

Hearing Salter announce her intention to join me this afternoon makes me realize that if all of us were to go, my Mercedes simply wouldn't have enough room, so we'll have to take my other car, a white Mercedes GLE 350 SUV. Am I a Mercedes fanboy? Not necessarily, my dad always had two Mercedes cars and every couple of years he'd rotate them out through leases since he didn't want to deal with the pain of actually owning a car. I followed suit and now these two cars are what I've got on lease now, and it's actually quite convenient for someone like me who's involved in the shipping business. And now that I've got guests living in the house for the time being, it's all the more convenient, isn't it.

"Um, but I don't think all of us can fit in the car..." Matthew voices worriedly, thinking the same thing that I was.

"I've got another car, one that can fit us all," I reassure her. "I've got it parked outside in one of the exterior parking spaces out there." I point in the direction of the living room.

Matthew doesn't look so convinced quite yet. "Can...can a car really fit all of us? We're...six people now."

"Yeah, the other car's an eight-seater."

"W-Wow. Eight people...?"

"Yep. Though, I do have the extra back seat removed, so we'll need to take it out of the storage room downstairs and install it back in."

"What do you mean...?"

"You'll see."

"Ehehe ~ a romantic car ride with Master ~ " Tamamo seems to be enjoying the thought of that a lot, judging by the way she's holding her cheeks as she guides a wad of rice into her mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that she accidentally lets a few grains of rice stick to the side of her lip because she's distracted from eating by her self-imposed fancies of a romantic car ride with me. Against my better judgment, just to see how she'll react, I reach over and pluck the stuck grains of rice off the corner of her mouth and lick them off my finger, and Tamamo, snapping to attention at what I'm doing when my finger first pokes her gently against the side of her mouth, gets all blushy and starts fidgeting even more. "A-Awwwww, Master, y-you _shouldn't_ have ~ !"

How entertaining.

After we're all done with lunch, after a short rant on Tamamo's part about how we all eat our food too fast, particularly me, which I'll wholly admit to being guilty to all the time, I inspect the girls' clothes just to make sure that they won't stand out _too_ much in public, though I know for a fact that they're going to stand out either way just because of how attractive they _all_ are. Lily is the cheerful cute type, Saber (vanilla) is the graceful beautiful type, Saber Alter is the dark beautiful type, Matthew is polite cute type, and Tamamo has tits.

Wait.

"Master, Master, how do I look ~ ?" Tamamo coos at me, twirling around once to show off her casual wear, which looks like a stereotypical Japanese high school girl's uniform with a white button-up dress shirt, short pleated skirt, a light brown sweater tied around her waist, a red striped necktie, and black shin-high socks. She's also got her hair tied up in pigtails that are held up by a black hair ribbon. They're high pigtails this time, and I think that hairstyle suits her just as nicely, if not more, than her normal pigtail style.

"You look great," I nod with a confident smile. "Where'd you even get these clothes from?"

"Well, I got this outfit in another Holy Grail War and I really liked it, so I decided to keep it," Tamamo explains, flashing me a peace sign over her forehead. She's also holding dark brown Mary Jane shoes in her left hand; I guess that's to complete the whole schoolgirl look. I quickly review the other girls' clothes, and they're all wearing the same things as usual, with Lily wearing the clothes we bought her the other day.

"Then I'll need you girls to head downstairs; Matthew, get the garage door open, and I'll bring the other car around outside the garage," I instruct as I begin to make my way towards the front door of the house.

"Ahh, Master, can I follow? Pretty please?" Tamamo asks me quickly, seeing me start to head off.

"Yeah sure."

"Yay!"

Just before I turn away a second time, I catch a glimpse of Lily also raising her hand me but quickly lower it.

"You can come too if you wanna," I nod over at Lily, and brightening up instantly like a lightbulb being flipped on, Lily smiles warmly and bounds after us.

"Youth is a strange thing," I hear Saber Alter murmur to Artoria as we head out the front door.

Tamamo and Lily follow behind me closely as I lead them out to the roadway where the other car is parked in the first parking space. The SUV is protected with a big white tarp, the ones they make specifically for cars so that they can be parked outdoors for extended periods of time while being protected from the elements, and I deftly remove the tarp to reveal the SUV underneath.

"Wow, a big car..." Tamamo marvels slightly, noting the size difference between the SUV and the Sedan that she rode in last night. Lily more or less has the same expression of marvel on her face too as I fold up the tarp neatly. I also unlock the SUV and open the doors for the girls manually.

"Grab a seat," I nod, and they both hop inside - Tamamo naturally claims shotgun. I toss the tarp onto the floor on the other side from Lily, directly behind the driver's seat, and I myself hop into the driver's and turn the car engine on. I try to make it a habit to drive the SUV around at least once every few days, so the girls all being here gives me a good reason to take the SUV out for a spin.

After making sure that the car is in nominal condition, I drive the car out of the roadway and around the townhouse complex to my garage. It's not a long drive by any means, but the way that my house sits is that the garage and the front door are on opposite ends of a townhouse section, meaning that I have to drive the SUV around a good number of other townhouse units to get to my own garage. Nevertheless, I park the car outside my own garage, where the rest of the girls are waiting with the garage door already open as instructed.

"I found the seat that you were talking about, Senpai," Matthew calls out to me as I hop out of the SUV and shut the door behind me, meeting me behind the car while I open up the back. "The Sabers already carried it out."

Glancing back over at the Sabers, I see that Matthew is indeed correct; they've already carried the seat out past the sedan that's sitting inside the garage.

"Bring it over," I call over to the Sabers, and Artoria and Alter kneel down and lift up the seat together to bring it over to the back of the car. Now that I think about it, they don't like each other, so I wonder what made them work together like this.

Matthew helps the Sabers push the rear seat into the back of the SUV while Lily and Tamamo look on with piqued interest, lowering one of the middle seats, I instruct and help the girls install the rear seat in place. We secure it, and I beckon to the girls to hop on in, and we all pile inside as I shut the garage door with the remote.

"I don't know how well you'll all take car rides, but I'll just warn you all now, it's easily gonna be an hour drive each way," I warn my Servants.

"Worry not about us, Master. We have Riding as our Class Skills, so simple car rides like these will be no problem," Artoria nods.

"Where do you plan to take us for dinner, Master?" Salter calls over from the rear seat that she's sharing with Lily. I guess Lily and Salter get along just fine, surprisingly enough.

"I'll think about it after I've taken care of my work," I call back, navigating the SUV out of the townhouse complex and onto the main road.

But even as I say that, I'm thinking about taking them to In-'n-Out. I haven't had burgers in a while, so it might be nice. I'm not sure what a legendary British King and a Japanese fox deity might think about hamburgers, though.


	25. In-'n-Out

"Hyaaaaa ~ ! Finally..."

Stretching out her arms, Tamamo stands up on tip-toes for a moment as she stretches in the comfort of open space, outside of the car, in true cat-like fashion. We've just arrived at the parking lot of an In-'n-Out that's on the way back home in Nelson, on the fringe end of a very big commercial block that houses large stores like a few wholesale markets and supermarkets, open strip malls that have anything from ice cream stores and nail salons to Hawaiian and Korean barbecue restaurants and even a Gamestop. There's also a big hardware store behind us on the opposite end of the In-'n-Out, too; in terms of sheer variety, this commercial block is just really convenient...I guess the only problem is that to this day, I still don't know what the name of this commercial block is. Actually, I'm pretty sure that no one knows. It just sits in the middle of the town, so...I guess no one really ever needed a name for it, since everyone knows how to find it? Something like that.

"Wow, there's...there's a lot of people here..." Lily remarks, gazing nervously towards the hamburger restaurant. Given that it's just about six on a Monday evening, that isn't at all surprising - regardless of your opinion of the franchise, In-'n-Out is guaranteed to be packed during every hour of the day until it starts hitting eight-ish or nine-ish. Even close to closing time, there's always at least a few people eating in, and the drive-thru is _always_ full, no questions asked.

"Tamamo, is there a way to hide your ears 'n tail?" I ask Caster quickly as I press the lock button on my Mercedes remote car key before pocketing it.

"Hide it? Oh, I don't need to, normal people won't be able to see them," she replies quickly and cheerfully. "And besides, I don't like hiding them...I like to let 'em free ~ !"

She dances into a little pose, the stereotypical rabbit pose where you put up both hands over your head and fold your fingers up and down to pretend that they're rabbit ears. It's doubly effective with Tamamo because she actually _has_ animal ears that do the exact same thing. What a dangerous weapon, indeed.

"If you require some crowd control, Master, I can provide that in spades..." Saber Alter murmurs in a low voice, eyeing the mass of people inside the restaurant.

"Please don't do that, we don't need it. The service here is pretty quick, even with a ton of people," I reassure Salter with a disapproving scowl. "I can personally vouch for it. The people who work here're specifically trained to handle tons of people like this. The _real_ problem..."

I hesitate as I lead the girls safely across the small road so that we can reach the vicinity of the restaurant. Given that this is on the edge of the commercial block, right next to an outlet for cars to funnel in from and out to the major street beyond, naturally there are a lot of cars wanting to pass by, not even including the customers for the actual restaurant itself.

"The real problem is finding a table," I tell the girls, holding the door open for them to have them step inside before me, and with Artoria, the last one in, stepping inside, I also walk inside after her, joining the girls shortly as we all stand just in front of the doors, surveying the crowd of people inside. A part of me wonders if the restaurant is still meeting the maximum building occupancy limit. "See what I mean?"

"Uh oh...what do we do if we can't find a table?" Tamamo wonders aloud in cutesy worry, her ears quivering in thought as she takes a look around.

"There're always tables outside, but I prefer inside. But see, here's the next problem."

The girls glance over at me, while I fix my cap a little, pushing the visor slightly up so that I can see more of the restaurant, my sharp black eyes keenly maintaining surveillance to see if there's anyone who's just about ready to leave their tables because they're finished eating.

"Normally I'd tell one of you to look around for tables where people look like they're almost done with their food so that we can claim it after they're done. And no, we're not kicking anyone out of their tables, Salter."

Artoria Alter simply narrows her eyes at me.

"But the thing is, since you're all new here, I need to explain to you how to order food here, and what kinds of options you have. That bein' said - "

I catch sight of a table where a family of four appears to be just about done with their food, and that's a table where six people can sit. It's in the far right corner, and I don't think anyone's paid attention to it yet, so I instantly break off from the group, ignoring the calls from Matthew and Lily asking me where I'm going all of a sudden, and I stride over swiftly to the corner table, just in time to reach the family of four, a black family with two sons.

"Hi, sir, you done with this table here?" I greet them just as they're getting up.

"Oh yeah, you've come just in time," the father laughs heartily. "Uh, if you give us some time, we'll get our trash outta the way - "

"Oh, don't worry about that, I can take care of that."

"You sure? Oh..."

Having snuck some napkins from the napkin dispenser on my way over to the corner table, I whip them out from my pocket and immediately start wiping the table, and the father awkwardly thanks me before leaving to join his family disposing of their trash. The girls shortly arrive thereafter, right as I'm done wiping the table.

"You go this far for a table at a fast-food restaurant...?" Saber Alter asks me, almost in disgust, as she watches me fold up the napkin with which I've wiped the tabletop clean.

"It's how things're done around here," I explain, motioning to the girls to take a seat of our newly captured table. "Competition. You have all these people, and not enough tables? This's what happens. When you manage to claim a table, you gotta make it damn clear that it's yours. People do some shady shit tryin'a jack tables from other people if they're not careful, but anyways..."

From the table, we have a clear view of the menu that hangs over the cashiers across the restaurant; the place isn't really _big_ , so the menu can be easily read even from all the way across the restaurant. I point over to it to direct the girls' attention to them.

"So the basic stuff - the burgers are about this big," I form a circle with my hands to approximate the size of the burgers _._ "When you order, you can order a hamburger or a cheeseburger. On top of that, you can also order how many patties and slices of cheese you want on it. So where it says 'Double-Double', it means that the burger's got two patties and two slices of cheese."

The Artoria's are all nodding quite expressively. Artoria is even sneaking looks over at the other tables to see what other people are having. _What a surprise._

"You can just explain this to us while we're standing in line, right?" Tamamo asks excitedly, jittery in her seat next to me, her tail swishing around restlessly. She looks like she's about to bounce right out of her seat at a moment's notice.

"Sorry, just wanted to make sure that we had a table first. Alter, can you stay here 'n save our table for us? We'll be back soon."

"Hmph. Asking me of such petty favors as this..." Alter gives me a slight glare.

"Then would it've been better if I asked you to go order for us instead?"

She chooses not to respond to that.

As the rest of the girls and I head over to stand in line, Tamamo is glancing all around us.

"August, August," Tamamo whispers quite excitedly to me, making sure to follow my orders and address me normally rather than as her Master, "there's a lotta people looking at us, see, see?"

Tamamo doesn't even need to mention that. Ever since we stepped into the restaurant, I've immediately sensed the abnormal attention set in my vicinity, and the reason for this should be obvious.

Lily lets out a very small groan under her breath, she herself being uncomfortably aware of all the eyes looking in our direction. Even in the same line as us, not only can I sense the the stares of everyone around us, but I can also hear the whispers of marvel and wonder of guys behind me distinctly, to the point where I can understand what everyone is saying up to six people back.

"Ignore them, or at least try to," I murmur quietly to the girls as discretely as I can.

"They have been staring at us ever since we entered this building," Artoria mutters, though she isn't fazed by this whatsoever, as befitting of the King of Knights.

"Yeah, they have. As it is, there's not much we can really do about it..."

"It's like all the boys here've never seen a cute girl," Tamamo giggles quietly, carefreely looking all around at everyone who's looking in her direction, and not surprisingly, I notice that everyone whom Tamamo looks back at quickly averts his or her gaze, as even other girls are looking over in our direction.

"Well, it's not _that_ , it's just - you girls're just on a whole 'nother level when it comes to physical attractiveness," I sigh. I don't know how else I can put that into words. "I guess you girls bein' Heroic Spirits has somethin' to do with that, I presume?"

"Not... _all_ Heroic Spirits have attractive appearances, I will say," Artoria remarks darkly.

"Lemme guess, it's only guys who're like that, right?"

"Well, there is nothing that suggests that there cannot be a physically _unattractive_ female Heroic Spirit, but...so far, in my collective experiences, you would...certainly not be wrong. How did you know?"

"Just a hunch, let's say."

We reach the cashiers, and I lead the girls over to the leftmost cashier so that I can help each of them place their orders. As I haven't told them about the fries yet, I place an order on my own for five orders of french fries, two of them being animal-style. In total, we end up ordering a dozen burgers, just so that everyone can have two burgers each, since I know that these girls all have quite the appetite.

"Here, your drink, Matthew," I hand a large drink to Matthew as we join the rest of the girls already heading over to the fountain drink machines.

"Th-These are very large drinks, Senpai..." Matthew can't help but note.

"I was about to say the same myself. These drink sizes are quite something compared to what I had in Japan..." Artoria comments, lifting up her drink to try to get a good look at its overall size.

After filling our drinks, we head back over to our table to rejoin Salter, and I hand her the spare drink that I've filled with Coca-Cola.

"The food'll be ready in about..." I begin to say, but then I hesitate, because this is honestly the first time where I've ordered more than a pair of burgers ever at In-'n-Out, which means that I honestly don't know how long this is gonna take. Just to be safe, I say, "...fifteen minutes."

" _Eeeeee ~ !"_ Tamamo exclaims quite cutely, a wonky smile on her face as we watch her sip some pink lemonade up from her large drink. "S-So sweeeeeeet! Almost _too_ sweet!"

"Ah, sorry..." I pre-emptively apologize, knowing full well why Tamamo is complaining about the super-sweetness of this lemonade. "In this country, people have this, uh...really weird tendency to make everything super sweet. We as a people, if we decide that we don't like the way something tastes, decided that the best way to deal with it if we have to eat it is to add a bunch of sugar to it until we like it. I should'a warned you."

Caster giggles though, apparently unfazed by the sweetness of the pink lemonade. "It's fine, it's fine ~ it's just a different experience, after all. Unless you're _actually_ worried about our health? Awwww, that's so kind of you, Master." Tamamo pokes at my cheek.

"How're your drinks?" I ask around. Artoria and Lily both got 7-Up, which actually isn't bad at all in terms of sweetness, and Matthew got Coca-Cola like me. Admittedly, In-'n-Out never really had a wide selection of drinks, which is the one downside of coming here.

"It is excellent," Salter answers immediately, beaming as she slurps Coca-Cola rather quickly up through her straw. She's drinking it so fast that I can barely see the level of liquid inside her cup sink lower and lower towards the bottom.

"You must really love sweets, huh?"

"Food that is pleasing to the tongue is welcomed."

"Do you come here often, Senpai?" Matthew asks as we wait for our food to be ready.

"Eh, sometimes," I reply with a gesture of my hand, giving the connotation of inconsistency. "I haven't been here in a while, so I wanted to come back at some point."

"But it seemed like you were really familiar with this place..."

"Oh, I am. Been here enough to know how this place works."

Lily is looking around while Matthew and I are talking, and Salter in the middle of the conversation gets up from her seat to head over to the drink fountain can refill her drink with more Coca-Cola. I glance back at her occasionally to make sure that she's not about to make the drink fountain machines explode or something ridiculous like that.

"Seems like this's a place where you come with friends and company and whatnot," Tamamo notes, looking around as usual to soak in her surroundings while also sucking up more pink lemonade steadily through her straw. Looks like she's gotten used to the oversaturation of sugar in her lemonade.

"I usually just stop by by myself, though," I remark.

"By yourself...?" Matthew turns around a little in her seat, and I know where she's looking towards - the row of single seats next to a counter, where solo customers typically sit to eat by themselves, though sometimes customers in pairs also sit there freely too. Right now, there aren't too many people there, just two, and no one else is occupying the vacant seats because everyone else is in a party or something.

"Don't worry about it. I come by here with friends sometimes, too."

"But how often?"

"Not that often. Last time we've been here specifically was about, uh...four months ago? I think?"

"That's..."

"A long time, yes, I know, I'm aware."

"But - "

"I don't mind. Not a big deal to me," I say coolly, sipping on my Coke.

"Awww, don't be shy, Master, if you're lonely, just come talk to me ~ " Tamamo coos, wriggling over to me to rub her shoulder next to mine. I happen to be sitting right in between her and Matthew, which puts me in quite the awkward spot. Salter returns, surprisingly without incident. I was half-expecting her to blow something up and be forced to deal with it, but no, she comes back without any trouble. Though I suspect she'll be making quite frequent trips to and fro our table and the drink machines.

"Master, um...have you always been living by yourself?" Lily asks a little worriedly. "Before you summoned us for this Holy Grail War, did you have anyone else living with you?"

"I've been living by myself for the most part. Sometimes my personal friends hang out with me at my place for a few drinks, and once in a while they'll stay the night," I answer, shaking the contents of my own fountain drink a little.

"And lemme guess, you don't have a lotta friends, do you?" Tamamo frowns slightly.

"Nope, but that wasn't too hard for you to guess, huh."

"'Course not! You just seem like the type 'a guy who doesn't have a lot, I can tell. It's not hard to know that either, y'know." Caster keeps poking my cheek occasionally. "The way you acted in the car when we were driving around kinda solidified that. You always listen to us, you don't talk as much as we do, and when you _do_ talk, it's always super concise and makes it so that you're done talking within three seconds. But that's okay, you're still always gonna be my beloved Master, after all ~ "

Tamamo's brief facade of elation quickly resumes its pouty nature, though.

"But that's how I know you don't have a lot of friends. You should really thank us, huh? We're making your lonely life so much more interesting."

Are they, though? I've gotten used to a life where I live by myself and only need to take care of myself, and if I had a choice, I would've already returned to it. Yes, having a bunch of hot girls come live with you and fight for you is interesting and fun, I suppose, but I profess to be the type of guy who would rather think with his head and not his dick. Unless you interpret "head" to be synonymous with "dick", but by that point you need to get your head out of the gutter.

Just going off my own experience with my personal friends, they're nice to have around, for sure. I've known all of them since high school, and we've always made sure to hang out every once in a while, even five years after our high school graduation. But we've all more or less gone our separate ways, and while meeting up to go grab food or hang out and drink and chill is fun and all, it's no longer a necessary routine for any of us; at any point, we could just stop meeting up, and no one would have a second thought. We've all come to that mutual agreement silently at some point over the past five years, but I think I was the one who came to that conclusion first, just because of the fact that I knew that my career as a mage would naturally pull me away from the others anyway, whether I tried to do anything to resist it or not. It's hard for mages to be close friends with normal humans without there being something horrible or tragic happen to them as a result. Obviously I would prefer if that weren't the case, but I've been stung one too many times to make that same mistake again. And making friends with other mages is, well, for me, out of the question - my style of artificial magecraft is contemptible to those who practice traditional magecraft, and even the ones who would consider being my allies have their own agendas and their own support bases already firmly established, meaning that they have no room for someone like me, someone young and presumably unexperienced in the world of magecraft and won't give me the chance to prove them otherwise.

But these girls aren't just any normal human beings, they're Heroic Spirits. I could probably get away with not having to worry about _them_ too much. But are they the kind of people with whom I can make friends so easily? The easy answer is yes, even if only for the fact that I am their Master, but...even then, I'm hesitant. More than anything else, I like having my life made simple, and Tamamo, with her observations, probably already has sensed this, as have the other girls, I'm sure. If I only need to worry about myself, then my life is simple because the only responsibilities that I have involve me and me alone. But when more people are added to the picture, the number or amount of worries and responsibilities begins to exponentially increase. Now, not only do I need to worry about myself and my own needs, I need to worry about everyone else's to all kinds of varying degrees. Maybe this all just seems like a bunch of whining, and I wouldn't disagree if that's what I'm doing. I guess I'm just not mentally adjusting well enough to a new lifestyle, and partly I know it's because I don't want to accept a new lifestyle when I've already spent so much time and effort establishing the one I had before I entered this contract to participate in this new Holy Grail War...or resolve these Singularities, whichever you prefer.

"Ah...did I hurt your feelings...?" Tamamo says quietly, looking apprehensively up at me. I blink suddenly, only now just realizing that I must've stayed quiet after Tamamo's last comment, thereby conveying the impression that I felt miffed by her remark when in reality I'm not at all. It's a bad habit of mine to do this, just to go into my own mental shell formed by my introverted thoughts and completely zone out everything else around me. It's something that I've gotten uncannily good at, and one that I'm not proud of, as it does nothing for me these days but further contribute to my overall image of a cold and distant kind of person to talk to.

"Nah, just thinking," I shake my head. "I tend to, uh...drift off a lot. I think about a lot of stuff..."

"Oooooh, a _dreamy_ type?" Tamamo's eyes flash with excitement for some reason; does my introverted personality traits somehow turn her on? Most girls don't like that, but Tamamo isn't most girls, clearly.

"What, you _like_ that?"

" _Maaaaayyybe."_

"What's with that."

"It just means that opening you up to be friendlier towards me'll be all the more fun, don't'cha think?" Tamamo teases me lightly.

"L-Lady Tamamo, um...if, if Master doesn't appreciate that, then...I don't think..." Lily tries to intervene, trying to look out for me. Lily is a good girl.

"It's fine, Lily," I smile quickly, just as the loudspeakers on the ceilings announce our number, indicating that our food is ready. "Okay, that's our number. Tamamo, let's head out there."

"Mikon~!"

Letting out this cute little verbal tic of sorts, Tamamo and I, along with Matthew who joins us anyway even without my explicit mention, head over to the counter where the employees set out the prepared orders for the customers. With all the food we've ordered, I'm glad Matthew tagged along because we sure could use her help, and with the three of us, we manage to bring all the red trays with our burgers and fries back over to our table, while I make a short pit stop near the center condiment station to pick up a handful of pepper packets and a thick wad of napkins.

The girls can't stop themselves from squealing out in delight as we return with our bounty. I quickly snatch my two burgers from the red trays before the girls start nabbing theirs, since I've made my orders a little more specific than theirs - Double-Doubles, grilled onion and lettuce only, because I'm not fond of the sauce they use and I just don't like tomatoes. All the other burgers have everything on them, however.

All the girls clap their hands together and declare their usual ritual of _いただきます～！_ before digging into their cheeseburgers. Saber Alter, naturally, doesn't even bother and is holding a double-double that's only missing its half top, with a _huge_ bite mark gouging into the center of the burger.

Tamamo lets out an excited squeal of her own as I munch silently on my own burger, savoring the taste of the crisp buns that is one of my favorite parts about In-'n-Out burgers.

"So this's what a cheeseburger tastes like? Why don't people just eat these all the time if these're so good?" Tamamo wonders aloud, nomming another bite out of her burger.

"Well, _some_ people do...but most of the time, not really..."

Caster offers me her burger, though. "Here, Master, say _aaahhh ~ "_

"Er...no thanks."

"Kyau!" Tamamo looks and sounds like she's just been nipped in the tail, and I can hear Matthew helping Fou eat his burger too. By this point I've stopped questioning how it is that Fou can just eat anything - I'm slowly starting to convince myself that he's actually a goat in disguise. "M-Master rejected me...what a defeat...!"

"It's more because I like my burgers a specific way," I explain, showing her my burger. "I ordered mine with lettuce and grilled onions only."

"Oh, you can customize it..." Tamamo gazes at my burger with a kind of intent that a burger probably doesn't deserve most of the time. "No tomatoes or sauce...do you not like them?"

I shake my head. "Never been a fan of the sauce or tomatoes."

"That's bad, Master. You have to eat your veggies too!" Tamamo lightly scolds me as I watch Artoria and Lily deliciously finish their first burgers together practically at the same time, while Saber Alter's already wolfed down both of her burgers and is getting to work on the animal fries, which reminds me to rip open the small pepper packets and pour them over two of the orders of fries to spice them up a little.

"I _do_ eat my veggies. I just...never really liked tomatoes, that's all."

"And aren't tomatoes technically...fruits?" Matthew adds, feeding Fou a plain fry.

"Either way, I'm not a fan."

"Oooh, pepper ~ ?" Tamamo coos, reaching over and plucking a single fry of her own that I've freshly dressed with pepper and popping it into her mouth. "Geez, everything is so good ~ You're really spoiling us, aren't you, Master ~ "

"I wouldn't say that I'm trying to spoil you, I just wanna give you guys good food," I correct her. "And speakin' a good food, there's a ton 'a other places around here that we could also go to if we feel like eating out. There's a Hawaiian barbecue place that I really like on the other side of the plaza down that way, there's a Japanese restaurant right over there on the other side of this parking lot, there's - "

"A Japanese restaurant?!" Saber, Saber Alter, _and_ Tamamo all exclaim at the same time.

"...I mean, yeah, we have Japanese restaurants...did you think that we wouldn't have one?" I scratch my head curiously at their strong reactions. "We _are_ in America, after all..."

"I would love to try this restaurant sometime, Master," Artoria beams quite strongly at me, so much so that I immediately have a vivid flashback of her deploying Excalibur at her Alter self from the other night, which then makes me have this quick image of her firing Excalibur with her face at me. I'm not sure what that image is all about, so please don't ask me to elaborate.

"We can go there like tomorrow or something. It's called Kourindou, and I think...I think you can - yeah, you can see it from here. Right over there..."

Leaning around so that I can peek out the window behind the Artoria's, I point in the direction of the Japanese restaurant in question, and the girls lean with me to get a look. The kanji for Kourindou, 香霖堂, are lit up in soft red light, on the strip that also houses a Chipotle and an I-Hop pancake house.

"I propose that we pay a visit to this establishment now, after we are done with this fine establishment," Saber Alter projects, talking while shoveling animal fries into her mouth. I've noticed that she doesn't even pause between fries; she eats them one by one, two by two at some intervals, but never does her hand stop at any point in delivering payloads of wedges of fried potatoes to her lips.

Not one, not two, but three King Arthur's eating In-'n-Out, side by side. I don't know why this fact hits me as hard as it does, but it does. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, to be honest. How many times this week have I said that now? Ah, whatever.

"Ah, Master, what about my shopping? かーいーもーの ~ ?" Caster requests cutely as usual.

"Right after we're done eating, there's a Japanese market right over _that_ way." I point straight at the corner of the walls in the direction of the Marukai market that's also in this same plaza. "I'm not too well versed in Japanese cuisine, so you'll have to pick out everything that you'll need."

Tamamo nods enthusiastically. "Just leave it to me. I'll show you how much of a fantastic wife I can be!"

A wife, huh. Since Tamamo's been going on about it, I didn't think I'd come to know what having one feels like. A part of me wants to accept this, and it certainly would be nice, but...


	26. Checkmate

**A/N:**

 **Regale Rhythm: thanks for the kind words. To answer your inquiries, I can put Japanese-to-English translations as they're written, but know that actual Japanese is only used sporadically and won't be used too often for this to be an issue, hopefully, as I myself only know very little Japanese.**

 **As far as CE's go, after I wrote the first several chapters, I took some time to think about how exactly I could make CE's relevant to the story that I'm writing, and initially I did intend for them to have some sort of influence in the story. But eventually after contemplating it, I came to the conclusion that CE's ultimately won't make sense in a story like this, as it's meant to be more on the "realistic" side with less of an emphasis on gameplay mechanics and more so on just creating what hopefully can turn into a unique fanfic for FGO. Or, in other words, I wasn't able to figure out a realistic, reasonable way to incorporate the Craft Essence mechanic into this story in a way that makes sense and doesn't suddenly make the story start feeling like a budget Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic. Hopefully you can understand my decision with this.**

 **Edit: Saber Wars is sapping me of life, send help. Writing this to get my mind off farming from eight to sixteen hours a day, through work and sleep. Well, not the sleep part. I think.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

"Checkmate."

I slip my queen to replace Lily's black pawn on square F-7.

"Eeeehhh...!?" Lily squeals lightly in shock before groaning in despair. "O-Oh...it really is, oh dear..."

Lily and I are playing chess; after coming back home, Lily, having spotted the old chessboard standing in the corner in the living room at the foot of a tall bookcase, asked to play chess, which took me by surprise because if I remember correctly, Arthurian legend originates before the commonly accepted birth of chess, which was around the 7th century, and even then it was believed to have originated in India. Then I reminded myself that not only does FATE acclimate Servants to the modern day with general knowledge and information about contemporary culture, but there's also a very good chance that they could've simply learned it in the past, in their previous incarnations in past Holy Grail Wars. The chessboard itself isn't really a chess- _board;_ rather, it's a sturdy wooden box that contains the materials for a small variety of board games, not just chess; the board just happens to be painted on the top of the box. And so after depositing the Japanese groceries that we bought from Marukai back at Nelson Plaza and storing them away in the fridge accordingly, Artoria, Lily, and I all started playing a few rounds of chess while Saber Alter, sitting close by on the couch while we play on the floor, watches some more Food Network - coincidentally, there's a program currently airing that's about a guy who travels across the country to try out all kinds of burgers, from franchises to small mom-'n-pop cafes and whatnot.

So far, we've played three games - the first one was me against Lily, which I won. Then Artoria stepped up and beat me, but it took forty minutes and came down to both of us having two or three pieces each. The third game just ended.

"The scholar's mate, I believe it is called?" Artoria, who's observing us respectfully and silently, nods in approval at my swift victory. "Very good, Master."

"I saw the opportunity and I took a risk," I shrug very slightly, reorganizing the pieces for the two of us on the board. "A small risk, but still..."

"I-It even has a name..." Lily sighs dejectedly, correctly sensing that this is a very commonly known strategy in chess.

"It's better than getting beat in two moves, though," I tell Lily with a smile, a smile that I know won't cheer Lily up very much.

"There's a way to checkmate someone in t- _two_ moves?!" she gasps in horror. Even Artoria seems a little flabbergasted by this, but she holds her peace for now.

"Yeah, but you have to be black to pull it off," I murmur, carefully turning the chessbox around so that I'm now on the black side. "That, and you'll pretty much _never_ see this happen in a real match because you'd have to have no frickin' idea what you're doing to be put in this situation in the first place. It's why it's called the 'Fool's Mate' or...something like that."

As I talk, I move exactly four pieces - two white pawns to F-3 and E-5, and two black pieces, a pawn and the queen, to G-5 and H-4, respectively.

"...this really is a checkmate..." Artoria blinks in sheer wonder, staring at the chessboard like she can't believe what she's seeing, but it's only for a moment. "But indeed, there is absolutely no reason for white to arrange their first two pawns in this manner."

" _My_ question is, how do you even _know_ about this Master?!" Lily balks.

I can't help but let a smirk creep up on my face as I remember this one time when I managed to trick one of my high school friends into doing this.

"Well, I read up on it back in high school - I forget the reason why, I just know that I read about it," I explain quickly with a casual wave of my hand. "Afterwards, when one of my friends wanted to play chess because he was part of the chess club back then, I agreed to help him practice, but he was just a novice back then. I kinda... _convinced_ him to place those pawns like this - " I gesture to the chessboard - "and I checkmated him."

"Such... _deviousness_ ," Artoria remarks with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, I couldn't help it. I thought I'd try it at least once in my life."

The crunching of Saber Alter snacking on Calbee Barbecue potato chips interrupts us lightly. Wait, when'd she sneak a bag of chips out from the bags of groceries?

"Hey, when'd you take that?" I lean around Lily to question Salter, whose eyes are fixated on the images of juicy burgers on the TV screen behind me. Not surprisingly, Artoria Alter doesn't answer me, because right now the TV is a hell of a lot more interesting than her Master is. For someone like her who seems like she could literally eat all day, I suppose I can't fault her too much...but I will anyway.

"Alter, Master has asked you a question. Perhaps you can find it within yourself to at least answer him?" Artoria frowns over at her Alter self with scathing disapproval.

"Well, it's just a snack, that's not something I'm exactly _demanding_ an answer over..." I grin awkwardly, not wanting to be all confrontational about this, but Salter does say something, though what her motivation is for answering is beyond me.

"I took it when I brought in my share of groceries. I have been saving it until this moment," she responds, shoveling a handful of chips into her mouth and crunching down on all of them at the same time. Truly the destroyer of potato chips.

"But Tamamo's making us dinner," I remind her, gesturing to the kitchen behind me by pointing in that direction over my shoulder with my thumb. Indeed, the sounds of Tamamo cooking us up a true Japanese-style dinner are clanging, sizzling, and cutting through the air in our direction. Given the fact that the distance between the kitchen and the living room is both very short and very linear, what Tamamo's doing in the kitchen is very easily heard even over the flatscreen TV.

"What difference does that make?" Salter replies quite frankly.

I open my mouth to respond immediately, but then I hold my tongue, because if I think about it, Saber Alter's already clearly demonstrated that she's more than capable of consuming large quantities of food - which, perhaps, I shouldn't be surprised by given the fact that she's a Heroic Spirit; I shouldn't necessarily expect them to adhere to normal human standards, standards that I myself uphold because humans like myself simply assume that these arbitrary standards will be honored by their fellow humans, whether or not they're human themselves...if that makes any sense. So her eating potato chips literally makes no difference. Which means she's right.

...something about that annoys me, but whatever.

So all I can do is to just throw out an awkward shrug, both palms up.

"Senpai, if it's alright for me to ask, do you go out to that warehouse often for your business?" Matthew asks as she rubs Fou's ears on the couch across from us. "Because the path you took to the place seemed like something only someone who knew the lay of the land, so to speak, would know..."

"Sometimes. I would prefer _not_ havin' to go there since it _is_ a little far, but I do know where to go, yes," I nod, letting myself get distracted by what's on TV, which is currently showing a particularly juicy shot of what appears to be a Texas smokehouse-style barbecue burger, dripping with thick barbecue sauce, overflowing with Texan cole slaw, and sandwiched together with two buns that look lightly seared to golden perfection to give the burger an additional layer of satisfying crispness.

"What _is_ your line of business, Master?" Lily asks innocently.

I glance at Lily oddly, but then I realize that the only one to whom I've explained my livelihood is Matthew; none of the girls present here now with me in the house know. And once I do realize this, my expression softens immediately before Lily gets the wrong idea.

"Ah. My business's what's called a freight-forwarding business; it's a job where I handle the transportation of goods and commodities from one place to another," I say concisely. "I specialize in handling shipments that come in from countries in East Asia, like China, Korea, and Japan, and arrive here along the West Coast of America, though I can manage other routes too."

"Wow..." Lily seems genuinely amazed by this, which I don't blame her for. "That sounds really...modern."

"It is," I nod simply in agreement. "Freight forwarding is often an international business, but there can be plenty of domestic ones, too. Lots of freight-forwarding businesses out there besides mine who specialize in different things."

"An international business, one could say?" Artoria asks.

"Oh yeah; the shipments I handle all have to cross the Pacific Ocean to reach us here in California. Or most of them, anyway. Just asking, but do you know how far East Asia is from here?" I ask the Artoria's, the two who'll listen to me, anyway, and both of them slowly shake their heads. So in response, I pull out my phone, unlock it, pull up Google Maps, and activate voice detection before speaking clearly into the phone, "Google, how far is Tokyo from Los Angeles?"

My phone immediately expands the map of my local area to cover Japan and West Coast United States, and I show the two.

"Oh wow..." Lily gasps lightly, starting to get a sense of the sheer distance between the two countries. "Um...I'm...I'm not so good with maps, but...but that's...that's really far away, isn't it...?"

"Most of the shipments I handle actually come from China. Places like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian..." I explain a little bit further, scrolling the map across with my finger to show China. "But occasionally I'll get orders handling shipments coming in from Tokyo, or Busan, or whatever."

Artoria nods, perhaps in approval, perhaps in understanding. "This must be a difficult career for you, Master," she remarks. "For you to be able to maintain a business like this to support yourself, and to maintain your position as an experienced mage..."

"It's actually not that difficult," I shake my head quickly. "If everything goes right and you know what you're doing, this job actually is a really easy job. But the problem with it's that when things go wrong, things can go wrong _really_ badly. And that's what happened earlier today - we had a problem with one of our shipments, specifically the contents of that shipment arrived in a damaged state, and like I told you guys earlier when we were heading over there, I was going over to see if I could determine the exact cause of the damages so that I could figure out who to charge for damages. So every so often I'll run into problems where I have to go out of my way to resolve them, and depending on how bad the problems are, they can be real headaches to deal with. But eventually I do manage to take care of them all. I have to, the reputation of my business kinda rides on that."

A brief silence follows my words as we all kind of let our attentions focus on the TV together, watching the show host start grubbing out on this Texas smokehouse burger.

"Master, I do have one thing of my own to ask, if you will so permit," Artoria speaks. It's almost jarring hearing Lily and Artoria speak one after the other while knowing that they're supposed to be the exact same person.

"Yeah, what's up?" I glance over at her, over my left shoulder.

"The previous evening, when we received Caster as a new Servant; you contacted this Lady Animusphere to discuss some terms of a contract, and you mentioned that you wished to terminate it, which would have resulted in our return to the Throne of Heroes," Artoria says. "If this is not too much to ask, I would like you to elaborate more on this."

Sensing the gravity of Artoria's question, I turn myself around on the floor so that I'm sitting facing her.

"Sure, I can do that, but first, I just wanna ask you quickly why you feel the need to ask that," I return swiftly.

"Of course. I ask you this because I wish to know if you only intend on maintaining our contracts as Servants for a short period of time, before this Holy Grail War can be resolved. Because it is clear that this Holy Grail War is much different than the others that I and perhaps those around me may have participated in in the past, I believe that it may be necessary for me to remain here even if our contract between us is terminated early."

I nod. "Right, I'll keep that in mind. I did mention why I wanted to end our contract early, but for you to understand, I have to tell you first about the contract that _I_ have with Chaldea. You guys except for Matthew aren't familiar with Chaldea or what they are or the people who work there, right?"

Artoria and Lily both shake their heads.

"Right, so...the Chaldea Security Organization, or just Chaldea for short, is a magical organization that's dedicated to the preservation of humanity; their goal is to protect humanity and ensure that humanity as a whole isn't being threatened by large-scale magical disasters; their main headquarters is located in the Alps somewhere; their exact location's classified information, so I can't tell you that unless we actually head over there at some point.

"From what I've been told and what I know, starting about a year ago, Chaldea began to run low-key international advertisement campaigns to spread word that they were looking for talented mages across the world to employ as subcontractors. 'Subcontractors'..." I repeat with noticeable sarcasm, emphasizing it further with air quotes. "We're pretty much Chaldea's mercenaries, all but in name. Our job is to monitor our respective areas so that whenever Chaldea detects that there's a Singularity that'll show up in any of our areas, Chaldea can alert us and prepare us to deal with the threat. These terms of contract pretty much went hand-in-hand with everything that I did already, so naturally when I found out about this, I contacted Chaldea to let them know that I was interested, since for me it's more or less free money.

"So they flew me out to their headquarters in Switzerland, in the Alps somewhere. Their PIC, or Person in Charge, is Olga Marie Animusphere, the daughter of the guy who founded Chaldea originally, apparently. She's the person with whom I negotiated my terms - and in it, the contract clearly states that I as the subcontractor can choose whether I wish to operate outside of my own residential region, and I chose to simply operate within my own home region. So when Olga told me yesterday that she reserved the right to change any of the terms in my contract, I got pissed off because that's not what I remember negotiating with her."

"So you wish only to operate within regions with which you are familiar?" Artoria asks.

I cross my arms slowly. "It's not necessarily that; I don't have a problem going out to places that I don't know if I have to," I shake my head too for good measure. "It's more because of my job. Even though I did say that it's not a _difficult_ job to have, it _is_ a kind of job that needs my attention every day. I don't really have, like, vacations or breaks or paid leave or anything like that because I'm self-employed; I'm my own boss. And not only that, but my customers always have shipments coming in year-round, so even during holidays, I have to be on top of my work because if I'm not, then no one is."

"I see; this is out of concern for your livelihood."

Sighing a little, I nod quickly again. "Yeah. It _is_ what I do for a living, after all, and I think that's pretty important, obviously. And remember that I'm only a Mage on the side; being a Mage has never earned me any type of living, outside of being a subcontractor for Chaldea or odd jobs before I became a subcontractor for them. And even _then_ , they haven't even paid me shit, so..." I throw up my hands suddenly in clear indignance. "But anyways, because of the nature of my job, I don't wanna have to go too far from my own home region. If it's something actually related to my business, sure, that's understandable. But if it's for something related to magic, which normally involves me having to fight somebody or something, that means that I can't bring work-related stuff with me because I can't afford to be distracted, not even by my own job, and that obviously means that I'm away from my job for days, potentially weeks on end, and for a job that constantly needs my attention, that's not good. So if the next Singularity appears somewhere halfway across the world..."

I intentionally leave my thought hanging because I figure that the kind of point that I'm trying to make by now is obvious.

"Mmm...that really is a tough position to be in..." Lily murmurs, trying her best to sympathize with me.

"If that is the case, why not give up your current livelihood to pursue one that allows you to become as strong of a Mage as you can be?"

Suddenly, Artoria Alter is talking over to us, and amazingly enough, she's looking over in our direction, rather than watching what's on TV. She's also done completely emptying out that bag of Calbee chips, by the way, but I think it was safe to assume that she finished eating them even if I didn't tell you. When everyone in the living room suddenly glances over at her, Saber Alter continues:

"That Animusphere girl, she seemed to take quite an interest in you, as far as your capabilities as a mage are concerned," she points out in her hard and cold voice. "And you yourself have just stated now that she is the head of this 'Chaldea' under which you now serve as a contractual mage. If the head of a magical security organization that is apparently in charge of the protection of humanity believes that you are the most competent to the point where you believe she has tampered with the terms of your contract to force you to stay a Master, why not pursue that? What holds you back?"

"She's vastly overestimating what I can do. And versatility isn't always a favorable trait to ask of from a mage. In most cases what you want are specialists, mages who can fulfill a specific role or niche very well, as opposed to someone like me who can do a lot of things but never one with any real mastery. And if you're talking about strength, then I find it _really_ hard to believe that Olga couldn't'a found someone better _somewhere_ around the world. The world's a big place, man, and there's always someone stronger."

"Or is it simply because you cling too much to a lifestyle like this?" Saber Alter smirks at me dangerously. "Do you enjoy peace and nonconfrontation, Master? Perhaps a little too much?"

"Yeah, says the one sittin' on _my_ couch watchin' the Food Network on _my_ TV and eatin' barbecue chips that _I_ paid for!" I exclaim right back at her, complete with a Phoenix Wright-esque dramatic finger point, causing everyone in the living room to laugh, which single-handedly shatters the tenseness in the atmosphere that Salter was building up as a result of her inclusion into the conversation. But what surprises me even more is the fact that Saber Alter even purses her lips at me in clear indignance of her own as she immediately fusses back at me to defend herself.

"F-Food is essential! Without food, we cannot fight!" she blurts back.

"But, Lady Alter, Servants don't _require_ food as a form of sustenance..." Matthew points out. "And even then, potato chips aren't a very good source of sustenance..."

 _"Silence, you!"_ Saber Alter demands from Matthew vehemently.

"Speaking of food, dinner's ready!" we can all hear Tamamo yell from the kitchen, and just like Pavlov's dogs, Salter immediately jumps out of her seat on the couch and quickly walks past us over to the dining table to patiently await being served dinner. The rest of us, however, take our time and still hang out in the living room for a few moments longer.

"As much as I may not get along with her, Master, Alter does bring up a good point in this case," Artoria mentions to me quietly as we all prepare to leave to join Salter at the dining table once again. "Are you choosing not to become a fully-fledged Master or Mage because you prefer this kind of a lifestyle? One that is focused more on the modern world, rather than the magical?"

I twist my lips a little. "I'd say that I want to be in this position where I am now not necessarily because I myself _want_ to, but because if I'm not here, then the people that I know and work with as a result of my job are suddenly left hanging. You all know that I inherited my business from my late father, and out of respect for him, I chose to carry on his line of work so that the people he knew and worked with in life can continue. If I had no such connections with them in the first place, maybe where I'd be would be a lot different, probably."

We head over to the dining table, while I stride over to the kitchen, with Matthew and Fou in tow, but as I join Tamamo in the kitchen who we find starting to walk out of the kitchen herself holding two big plates filled with nothing but finely cooked homemade takoyaki, I do think to myself silently how much different my life would've been if I'd decided to go all-out on my Mage position.

In a way, I guess it wouldn't have turned out much different.


	27. A Personal Agenda

After our (second) dinner, I'm in the middle of tying my dad's old apron around my waist to begin washing the dishes that've been piling up in the sink over the past few days (I fully admit to having a bad habit of leaving dishes sitting in the sink for days on end, but in my defense, as I normally live alone, I hardly have to worry about dishes piling up in the first place) when I hear a certain brief screeching behind me.

"M-Master, what're you doing?!" Tamamo practically shrieks as she damn near _warps_ next to my side while I'm busying myself slipping my hands into the pair of rubber gloves that I always leave hanging on the front side of the sink.

"...whaddya mean?" I give Caster a puzzled look while reaching for the sponge sitting on the far edge of the sink. "I'm about to wash the dishes. They've been piling up ever since everyone started living here, someone's gotta do 'em."

"And that someone should be _me!"_ Tamamo declares vehemently as usual, as this is clearly something that falls underneath her territory of housewife duties. Or so that's what I would assume, anyway. "Letting my Master wash the dishes himself? _Preposterous! Outrageous!"_

I gaze at Tamamo fume into the air for a few seconds, and somewhere in the back of my head, I hear a memetic _REEEEEEEEEEEE_ screeching annoyingly. I should stop killing my brain cells watching meme videos on Youtube, how the hell am I gonna replace those.

But Tamamo snaps out of it quickly the moment Matthew walks in with the rest of the dishes - whether or not that's just fortunate timing or intentional, I think I'll never know. In any case, Tamamo faces me again and immediately begins cooing at me, as if trying to coax me out of doing the dishes while she graciously takes the dishes from Matthew.

"Master, please, you should really leave this to me - oh, I'll take those, Matthew-chan ~ " the foxy Caster tells me. "As your wife, I can't permit my own husband to be doing these kinds of mundane things, you know. And plus, you were about to wash these dishes _manually_ , weren't you?"

"I mean, if I felt like it, I could'a probably written some kinda magic program to automate dish washing, but..." I scratch the side of my head with my shoulder, since I don't want to scratch my hair with my glove. "...but I prefer doing things like this the old-fashioned way."

"The _old-fashioned_ way?" Tamamo balks a little, giving me a look pretty loaded with a kind of disgust that I can't quite put my finger on. "My goodness, I was the Avatar of Amaterasu in the olden days and even _I'm_ with the times, and here's my Master washing dishes by _hand!_ Oh gosh, I don't know if I should be happy about that or not..."

Tamamo almost pushes me out of the way of the sink, and before I can tell her to stop or anything, not like I was planning to in the first place, she pulls out those paper talismans that she used to deflect Saber Alter's attacks from last night and slaps them down on the four corners of the sink. She then turns on the faucet to let the water start running, and the talismans begin to glow with a curious light purple aura before the dishes and various silverware inside the sink begin lifting themselves out of the sink and begin washing themselves with the sponge that I was going to use; the only manual work that Tamamo seems to have to do is occasionally apply dishsoap to the mix by simply pouring the liquid soap onto the soap whenever the sponge runs out.

"...then I guess I'll leave this to you," I slowly mutter, taking off the rubber gloves and leaving them next to the sink, and Tamamo nods fiercely, humming to herself as she concentrates on magically washing the dishes on her own, and Matthew and I exit so that I can visit the restroom to wash my hands. Once I'm done and head out to meet Matthew again, she asks me,

"Senpai, there's something I want to discuss with you, since...I feel that it's important. Could we go upstairs to talk about it?"

"Hm? Uh, yeah, sure, okay..."

So we leave the other Servants in the living room, where they've retreated back to continue watching more TV, this time watching a program on global whale migration patterns. Once we hit the top of the stairs, Matthew turns around.

"Do you have the Grail in your room?" she asks, and I nod.

"Let's talk in my room then, since it's already in there."

"Okay."

So we head inside, and I close the door behind me, though I just bump the door against the frame, not exactly closing it all the way, and I head over to the cabinet on top of which the Grail that we recovered from Salter's singularity sits.

"So you wanted to talk about this?" I ask Matthew again, turning to her with the Grail in my hands.

"Yes. Do you know what a Grail is used for in a standard Holy Grail War?" she asks, letting Fou down on the foot of the bed, where he makes himself comfortable and sits down next to his caretaker while I pull up my office chair to sit in that, but not before also placing the Grail under Matthew's care also on the foot of the bed.

"Well, from what I've read, the Grail supposedly grants any wish that the victor of said Holy Grail War has," I recall, remembering my Holy Grail War trivia as best I can, from what little I've actually read from the reference material that Chaldea sent me. I have it somewhere, I just gotta fish it out sometime...

"Yes, generally speaking. However, as this Holy Grail War is clearly not a standard one, naturally you can probably see that therein lies a problem," Matthew continues.

I cross my arms slowly in thought, but I figure it out quickly.

"...Holy Grail Wars usually only have one grail, and since we have one, it should be over already, and I should be able to make that wish," I presume. "But clearly this war isn't. Hell, it hasn't even become a 'war' yet..."

Matthew carefully nods. "But more than that, this Grail is...not as powerful as a proper one. I studied it the night we defeated Lady Alter, and I sent the data to the Doctor and Lady Da Vinci to analyze, and the results indicate that this Grail is not as strong as it should be."

"So it's just more of an indication that this Holy Grail War's just weird."

She also carefully nods to that. "So as a result...while it can't grant wishes, the Grail _does_ still have a considerable amount of magical power vested within it, perhaps the vestiges of the magical power that fueled the singularity from whence it's come."

I narrow my eyes at the mention of the Grail's vested power.

"I'd rather be on the safe side and _not_ have to draw on some kinda weird power that I don't know much about," I say cautiously. "Matter 'a fact, I'm surprised it hasn't blown up my house yet."

"But you've been keeping it in your room this whole time, though..."

"That's 'cause you told me that it was safe and _wasn't_ gonna blow up."

"Oh, right, I did say that..."

Matthew clears her throat lightly.

"But more importantly, this means that more than likely, if more of this kind of Grail is what's powering other Singularities that will come in the future, then it's safe to assume that our objective from here on out when it comes to resolving Singularities is to locate and secure the Grail that's responsible for establishing that Singularity. Of course, we won't be able to verify this until we enter our next Singularity, but if this is the case, then we know what to do, or what our primary objective is."

I lean forward in my chair a little. "What _I_ wanna know, though, is how we're gonna travel to these other Singularities if they're located halfway around the world or something. Is Chaldea gonna teleport us there, or are we gonna go the old fashioned way?"

"The old fashioned way?"

"As in fly there. Like, planes 'n stuff."

"Oh. That..." Matthew tilts her chin a little. "...that I'm not actually sure about either..."

I give Matthew a very concerned but also a very disappointedly puzzled look.

"And you're _sure_ that Olga isn't _completely_ fucking things up over there?" I ask quietly.

"Sh-She's been getting better at organizational matters!" Matthew blurts out quickly, hurrying to rush to the Director's defense.

"Oh, really? How's Chaldea's funding going, might I ask?"

 _"Those are resolved now!"_ Matthew pouts, balling her fists up and waving them briefly in front of her.

"Fou..." Fou murmurs, also in concern.

 _"Are you sure?"_ I pretty much glare at my self-proclaimed underclassman, even though she's most likely got nothing to do with Chaldea's recent financial problems that have arisen no thanks to Olga's terrible ineptitude at financial organization. I heard that her late father, the guy who founded Chaldea as an org, was able to do so with painstaking effort, securing funding from both prominent magical families and even major civilian governments alike, like the United Nations, alike, with much of the funding also taken out of his own pocket. While Olga isn't corrupt, per se, she's not... _smart_ with her money, and I'd hate to know what her father would think of her as his successor when it comes to Chaldea's financial insecurity.

" _Yes!_ Both Lady Da Vinci and the Doctor intervened already, and in fact Lady Da Vinci's the one who is in charge of Chaldea's principal fiscal matters."

"That makes me even _more_ worried."

Slowly reaching my right hand up to my face, I rest the fingers against my muzzle and start tapping the tip of my nose with my index finger in thought. There's something else I wanted to ask, but it escapes me - oh, no, I just thought of it again.

"Something bothers me 'bout this Holy Grail War, though, and maybe it's just a weird feeling, but when you were with your previous Master, you said that you went through this Rayshift process in order to access the Singularity where we met Saber Alter, right?" I ask Matthew.

Matthew nods. "What about that bothers you, Senpai?" she returns the question.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read of the material that Chaldea sent me, Rayshifting's basically a fancy process to send you back in time without repercussions?"

My short lavender-haired underclassman nods again. "Specifically, it is a process by which the spirit or soul of a living human being is projected into a specific time in the past. This is inherently a dangerous process, as this directly involves a human's spirit or soul, and if the process is faulty, the subject in Rayshift can very easily die. Parameters of the Rayshift process must be tightly controlled to ensure that nothing detrimental happens to the Rayshifter."

Projecting your very soul into the flow of time...that just sounds like a terrible idea no matter how you look at it, even when taking into account that this was the process that Chaldea used to resolve that one Singularity that Matthew and her previous Master was involved in. My mind begins to fill with questions about possible butterfly effects and the dangers of accidentally triggering the local Counter Force(s) into intercepting the Rayshift process as phantasmal existences, but that's gonna be a discussion that'll never end if we start talking about it, so it's better off not even talking about it in the first place.

Rather, there's something more relevant that's motivating me to ask about this.

"Right. So...point is, you and your previous Master used that to go back in time to try to resolve the Singularity where we found Salter," I continue on. "But ever since then, I don't think another Rayshift was ever used again. And now that this Holy Grail War seems like it's poppin' up again or whatever, now everything's in the present, it seems like, Olga isn't telling me to shove myself into one of those Coffins or whatever they're called. So do you know what's goin' on? Why're these Singularities that we're gonna deal with all occurring in the present now, given how big of a deal I recall Chaldea making out of these Singularities that were supposed to take place in the past?"

Matthew assumes a more and more troubled look on her face as I speak to her.

"We don't know. That's one of the reasons why we need to investigate these Singularities, not just to resolve them and relieve them of their Grails that may or may not be providing the magical energy to keep them sustained, but to also figure out why these Singularities are now suddenly taking place in the present rather than the past," she explains quietly. "I assume that Olga didn't inform you about that?"

"Why would she?"

Giving me an awkward smile that looks more like a grimace, Matthew raises her hand up to her face to brush her hair out of her left eye and glasses.

"So those're our objectives now, huh. Recover Grails, and try to find clues that'll help us figure out why they're showin' up in this frame of time," I summarize, causing Matthew to nod a third time in a row back at me. "Mm...I get the feeling we'll be stuck in this situation for a while."

"I'm sorry, Senpai," Matthew says earnestly, like she's the one I should blame for all this. "I know that all you want to do is continue leading the life you've been leading before we, uh...we showed up. If there was any way to hasten everything, I'd love to know as well, but..."

"But it probably won't be like that."

Matthew nods yet again, shortly this time. "Just, um, just out of...curiosity, and you don't have to answer this if...if it's too personal, but...how badly do you think this Holy Grail War is inconveniencing you?"

"Again, depends on how long I'm away from home," I shrug nonchalantly. "I have ways of working away from home, to be fair, but like I explained earlier, the tricky part is actually doing that. If it's a business trip, then that's simple. But if it's something like this where I know I'll be traveling because I'm involved in some mage shit, there's no point in me bringing whatever I need to work away from home because that's just baggage that I don't wanna have to bring along. It's a distraction, whatever enemies I might make or run into could find it and steal it and use it against me somehow if I'm not careful, whatever. And it seems like we'll be headin' out frequently, judging by Olga's tone when I've talked to her about this so far. And again, like I said, my business's the kind where I have to tend to it everyday, and if I miss a day, work just piles up more and more, and the people with whom I maintain email communications or whatever for my business'll start wondering where I've gone, it's just...it's just not a good time if I don't keep at it. I _could_ just, like, switch occupations, and I do have backup plans for if my business at any point just takes a bad turn and goes under, but before this all came up, I wasn't exactly looking to switch careers at all, and if I try to transition now, it's gonna be a major pain in the ass."

"So...in other words...we've put you in a bad spot," Matthew concludes sadly.

"Fouu..." Fou joins Matthew uncomfortably, laying his head against his paws on the sheet.

Again, I shrug. "Depends on what your definition of 'bad' is. It's not actually as terrible as I make it out to be, I tend to overdramatize stuff sometimes, and like any other human in existence, I like complaining to make myself feel better. I'm sure I'll figure this shit out somehow, I always do. So don't worry about it too much."

Glancing at Matthew, I can tell that she's not so sure herself. So I try to change the subject.

"You ever think we can use these Grails or whatever once Da Vinci or Roman figure out how they work?" I inquire.

"Mm...maybe. It _is_ Lady Da Vinci we're talking about, so if I were to wager, I'd say she could. It's more a question of time."

"I see..."

And after that, I don't know what else to say. Since I'm not a fan of long, drawn-out awkward silences, I start to get up to tell Matthew to join me and head downstairs to hang out with everyone else, but as I get up, Matthew, correctly sensing that I'm feeling the itch to leave, looks up sharply and quickly utters something to stop me.

"S-Senpai, please wait..." she says, and I remain seated, though I'm now seated at the edge of my office swivel chair. "There's...something I want to speak with you privately before we leave, and I think...I think this's the time to say it, since I might not have another opportunity..."

I tilt my head at her silently, waiting for her to continue. Is this the so-called legendary confession scene? But I've only known Matthew for barely two or three days. How long has it been again? Fuck it, don't remember 'cause I'm lazy.

"The previous Master I told you about..." she murmurs, her voice noticeably dropping down to a loud whisper. "Her name was Ritsuka Fujimaru. You remember hearing me yell at Lady Alter about where my previous Master was taken, right...?"

I immediately remember that scene. I tend to remember important stuff like fights and whatnot very distinctly, naturally _because_ they're so significantly, obviously, so I remember that with the most vivid of detail. I nod reactively, since it's not necessary for me to confirm something like that verbally.

"She was the Master to whom was I referring. If, uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to explain to you...what I'd like to do, personally, during this Holy Grail War..."

"Sure, yeah."

Smiling briefly but sadly, Matthew clears her throat.

"Erm...so to explain, I met her a year ago when Chaldea was preparing its first batch of Masters to respond to the first Singularity. However, one of our own staffers, a man by the name of Lev Lainur, sabotaged the operation by planting a bomb in the Rayshift area where our Masters would load themselves into their Coffins to Rayshift, killing all of them; he also had set bombs throughout the rest of the facility to kill as many of Chaldea's staff as possible. The only survivors were myself, Ritsuka, the Doctor, Lady Da Vinci, and Olga; Lady Da Vinci was in her own room as usual with her research, and since her room was private and not publicly accessible, Lev couldn't rig her room - I don't even think he knew where her room was, or if he even knew her at all. Olga happened to join me and the Doctor in the Doctor's room when Ritsuka got sent to the infirmary because she was sleeping during orientation, and they all escaped the explosions by chance like that. Everyone else was killed, and Lev was nowhere to be found.

"But the operation still needed to go as planned, and we figured that there was a good chance that we would also encounter Lev in the Singularity that we were tasked to investigate, so Ritsuka and I decided to go there alone, with Da Vinci and the Doctor directly assisting us since...there wasn't anyone else around to assist us in the first place. We went there, and we encountered that same Singularity, just in a different setting because we Rayshifted into a city in Japan named Fuyuki. We ended up eventually running into Lady Alter, but while we were engaging in battle with her with help from a friendly Servant who managed to resist the corruption from the Grail, a Caster by the name of Cu Chulainn, Lev appeared suddenly in the cavern where we were fighting and said that Ritsuka was a Master of great magical potential and then kidnapped her while Lady Alter was attacking me. Caster tried to intercept Lev, but since Lev had the power of the Grail at his command, he easily beat Caster and disappeared with her, and then the Singularity suddenly started to collapse. Caster then urged me to retreat, since told him about our situation when we first met him, and when we escaped the cavern, he then advised me to return to my origin point and return to the present, since there wasn't a point in me dying there in a Singularity that was going to collapse at any moment anyway."

"So you're lookin' for Ritsuka, then," I summarize a bit too concisely.

"Yes. I know that she is still alive, because Lev, the man who betrayed us, specifically said that she had immense magical potential, and after I returned to Chaldea and explained the situation to the Doctor, Olga, and Lady Da Vinci, we immediately came to the conclusion that Lev was going to keep her alive to use her to perhaps create other Singularities...or something along those lines."

"Who was that Lev guy, anyway? First time I'm hearin' about him. And I never knew about this fiasco, I only knew that you and another Master went to investigate a Singularity a year ago but that was it."

"Olga decided that it would be for the best if we kept that incident a secret for the time being, at the time; the immediate reaction from the rest of the magical community would have been one of ridicule and mockery, since people would have thought that an organization as prestigious and important as Chaldea would have had better security or something when it wasn't security that was the issue. Keep in mind also that the Mages' Association and Chaldea aren't exactly on the best of terms, and if they heard about that incident at all, they would be sure to make a laughingstock out of Chaldea. So we kept that a very classified secret up until very recently, and until then, we had to operate Chaldea pretty much on our own. It was only around last month that Olga began to hire more staffers to help rebuild operations and activity back to pre-bombing levels, since in the meantime she'd been slowly explaining the situation to her contacts."

"How the hell did someone like _Olga_ manage to keep something like _that_ a secret?"

"A-As much as we know that Olga might not be the most _competent_ director, when it really matters, she really does her job well!" Matthew exclaims, but this time she legit sounds a little angry. Took it too far, huh?

"Sorry, took it too far," I repeat my thought aloud. "Go on?"

"Um, yes...I-I apologize about that..." Matthew mumbles, realizing that she's spoken a little too enthusiastically and trying to settle herself down. "But...um...yes, my own personal agenda is that I wish to look for Ritsuka, my previous Master, whom I know is still alive. I am hoping that one of these Singularities contains her so that we can rescue her."

"So that's why Olga sent you here? Or is she not aware of that?"

"No, she's aware. I've spoken with everyone back at Chaldea, and I've made it clear that if anything regarding these Singularities appears, I wish to be sent to investigate it, no matter what it is."

I notice Matthew slowly clutching the folds of her pleated black skirt as she speaks, but I don't mention it.

"So Ritsuka's someone you really care about, then," I murmur aloud, even though I'm just stating the obvious, and Matthew gives me the biggest nod so far.

"I got to know her even before the incident, as I was the one who acclimated her to living in Chaldea. We became friends, and I intended to serve as her Servant through the first Singularity," Matthew explains.

"I see. You shoulda told me about this sooner; we wouldn't'a had this problem of me bitching about not wanting in on this."

At first, Matthew begins to nod, but then she stops and blinks at me, and then the meaning behind my words clicks in her head. I can almost see it click, like a lightbulb turning on over her head in those MGM cartoons or whatnot.

"...Senpai, you - you don't have to feel like you're fighting for _my_ sake," Matthew quickly stammers, threatening to stumble over her words at times. "I'm _your_ Servant, I should be fighting for _you_."

"Mmm. I mean I guess that's only logical, but then you told me that you have a friend you're lookin' for that some random asshole abducted for what's probably not very good reasons." I hit Matthew with my biggest shrug ever. "I think that's a pretty easy decision to make, personally."

"But I don't want to feel like now _I'm_ the reason that you're having to put yourself in danger..."

"Don't be. I've gone out to do stuff like this for a few friends before who've had, let's just say, 'family troubles'..." I murmur rather darkly, a bit more darkly than I was intending. "I've also done some _personal_ stuff too, in the past. I'm just the kinda guy who feels pretty _strongly_ about people's family or friends getting targeted by unsavory people and douchebags like that. And while I don't profess to be a hero, there're some things that, uh... _really_ grind my gears, let's just put it that way." I smile quickly and plainly at my underclassman. "So yeah, I'll help you find Ritsuka."

Smiling thankfully, with the most amount of conspicuous genuine appreciation I think I've ever witnessed a human face exude, Matthew reaches up to her glasses to wipe the lenses the bottom of her shirt.

"Just a quick question though, did you call her 'Senpai' too?"

At this, Matthew, who was in the transition of raising her glasses back up to her face to wear them again, somehow drops them onto her lap.

"I take it the answer is yes," I say rather plainly, watching Matthew wear her glasses properly and look back up at me with a very obvious blush on her face. "But then, that begs the question of why you call me that too. Shouldn't you reserve that for Ritsuka?"

"I-I can't help it! Whenever I establish a contract with a Master, I always have the urge to call them 'Senpai'!" Matthew confesses.

Did Ritsuka make her read too much slice of life manga?

"I'm not a psychologist, but I can tell you have a problem."

"It's not a problem!"

I _very slowly_ roll my eyes and make sure that Matthew can see every second of it.

 _"It really isn't!"_ she insists strongly.

In response, I simply lean my face against the top of my fist that's propped up on my chair's armrest, and I give her a nice and big smile of serene understanding.

"Nice story you got there. Tell me more, please," I remark, giving Matthew the final straw that is the shit-eating Willy Wonka grin.

Fuming through her pursed lips, Matthew jumps off the foot of the bed and grabs me by my collar to shake me back and forth, as if wanting to remove the absolute troll of a smile I'm giving her, which, by the way, isn't going to come off on its own. And while she's at that, the door opens suddenly and Tamamo marches in, announcing,

"Master ~ I cut some apples that I found in the fridge, and I found this!" Caster lifts up the half-drunk bottle of Sayuri sake that I've also been keeping the fridge. "Would you like to join me in some dri - _hey, Matthew-chan!? Don't you be having fun with him when_ I'm _not involved!"_

And as I feel Tamamo practically shove her tits against the side of my head, which feels like someone throwing a rather hard pillow at me, my personal magics system, which I nickname ENIAC for future reference, automatically pulls up a small blue hologram panel for me to view. Looks like there's a problem with one of my sensors, the one that we visited earlier in the week, and I might have to take care of that...


	28. Not A Hero

_"Right across the street, there's somebody on the curb who really needs a jacket, spent half the rent at the bar gettin' plastered..."_

The lyrics bump out of my speakers as I drive my black Mercedes down the main street through the town of Nelson in the middle of the night, headed towards my destination of the magical sensor that's detected a magical anomaly in the area. As this isn't something that I expect to take a long time, I persuaded the others to just stay at home; while I hesitate to assume anything, Nelson and its surrounding towns, for the most part, are pretty safe towns even at night, and I didn't feel like bothering any of the Servants to tag along with me. I even considered blowing a Command Spell on Tamamo just to get her to stay at home, but thankfully through careful talking and negotiation (i.e. promising to drink with her later tonight) I was able to escape my own home without being stalked by Caster. Never in my life did I expect to have to negotiate to _get out of my own house,_ but I guess that's a thing now.

Before I left, though, I did ask Matthew to elaborate to me more on this Lev Lainur person, Chaldea's traitor. Apparently he was a former Mages' Association researcher who resided in the Clock Tower over in London in his earlier years before eventually resigning from his post; he was doing freelance research in Switzerland and then made friends with Olga's father, Marisbury Animusphere. Marisbury apparently participated in the Holy Grail War of 2004 and won, and he wished for prosperity, specifically funding that he would need to establish Chaldea to be what it is now, which makes sense, seeing how he was able to get funding from civilian organizations like the United Nations. Upon founding Chaldea, Marisbury appointed Lev a position within his new organization as one of its magics technicians, which I guess planted the seeds for the sabotage that he committed earlier last year. Matthew also revealed to me that Olga took some time to look into her father's sudden death that occurred prior to the incident by some several months, and while their conclusions aren't final, she told me that Olga believes that Lev probably had a hand in her father's death, though she spared me the details.

So now the questions that we need to ask him, if we ever come across him during our Singularity-chasing adventures, are why he betrayed Chaldea, if he plotted Marisbury Animusphere's death, and what his true objective is in establishing these Singularities. We know that these Singularities pose a threat to the present day because if they get out of control, they can easily bleed into the current reality and threaten to infect or even override it entirely; either it might cause a dual reality plane in which two flows of time can potentially be set into motion at the same time, one true timeline and one artificial or "false" timeline, or it can simply collapse reality altogether, depending on the strength of the Singularity; with this in mind, the logical thing to assume would be that Lev is trying to plunge the world into magical anarchy by punching holes into the present day's concept of time or reality, or both. But since bad guys aren't always logical and do some weird shit sometimes, we'll only know for sure if we interrogate him about it, so until then, we're not exactly in the position to assume what his grand objectives really are, because who knows for sure. Well, we know that it's something that'll affect humanity as a whole, for sure, but we don't know the details, is my point.

Personally, I prefer just to concentrate on finding Lev and puttin' him in the fuckin' dirt. Then we won't have to worry about the details. Probably.

These details that Matthew's shared with me have really shined a new light on Chaldea and its situation for me; I visited Chaldea before the sabotage incident, which means that my contract with them as a subcontracted mage is older than that - specifically, I signed with them back in December of 2015, so about a full half a year before the sabotage incident, roughly. So all the times I've been annoyed by Olga's lack of fiscal management skills and her incessant breaches of contract maybe could've been toned down a little. That also might explain why Olga wanted just one person that she could trust to assume the role of the primary Master to tackle these Singularities. She was probably lying to me when she said that she thought I was the strongest candidate to assume this role; rather, she probably thought that I was the most trustworthy of doing this while she's busy slowly letting the sabotage incident be known to people she wants to let know, like carefully releasing pressure out of a shaken soda bottle by slowly unscrewing the cap. The question then becomes why she decided to go with me; Olga and I hardly know each other outside of the few times that we've spoken together, and I can probably manually count the number of times that we actually _have_ talked. Her claim that I was the strongest subcontracted mage that Chaldea has on file is more than likely bullshit, so there's another reason why I was selected to be the sole Master to tackle these Singularities, unless there _are_ in fact other Masters in active duty that I just don't know about because either Matthew or Olga is keeping that a secret from me deliberately.

I slow to a stop at an intersection before the one that I need to take a left turn at to arrive at my perimeter sensor, which gives me some time to think a little more deeply. Matthew probably wouldn't know if there are other Masters in play, because otherwise she probably would've let me know. And while I'm not assuming that Matthew can't be a master-class actor or have a case of multiple personality disorder like half the people in the magical world, I'd wager that she wouldn't want to hide something like that from me; as a matter of fact, she probably would've let me know earlier tonight in my room when I was complaining to her about how these Singularities are fucking with my normie schedule of a simple businessman.

I let go of my thoughts as I approach the same parking lot from before, which is now almost completely empty, as it's just about half-past eight by this point; the only cars that are around are congregated around the teriyaki bowl place and the twenty-four hour Subway's on opposite ends of the plaza, which isn't saying much because they're only like fifty meters apart, if that. I park my car by itself in the middle of those two establishments, activate Presence Concealment, and head over to the large lightpost that holds up the intersection lights to investigate the disturbance here. Normally I can just check on these sensors remotely from home, but this is a level of disturbance that requires my physical attention.

But to my dismay, after opening up the command console for the sensor I've planted here, I find out that this disturbance wasn't an actual magical disturbance at all, but just a faulty setup on my part; during tuning, it looks like I fucked up and made the sensor's detection parameters way too high, which means that it'll go haywire and freak out if something as small as a bird landing next to it and taking off would be registered as a magical disturbance. Fuck.

Those kinds of things always get under my skin the most, I think to myself as I work quickly to fix this flaw. More than suffering due to other people's mistakes, more than problems that I have with other people, I get annoyed and triggered most easily by my own mistakes, because my own mistakes are things that I myself could have prevented if I were just paying more attention or was being more careful. Mistakes that other people make usually aren't under my control, so if they make them, there's not much I can do other than clean up after it, I guess. I'm a firm believer in taking care of problems before they have the time to turn into problems, so for something like this to happen really tilts me. It's the same way with my regular work too; whenever I make a stupid mistake like send an email to the wrong recipient or forget to mail a check to another forwarding company on a certain day of the week, it triggers the hell out of me. It's probably the one thing I think I'll never really come to terms with.

It takes me about fifteen minutes, but I rectify the error in the sensor's magic code; hopefully something like this doesn't happen again, as I've deliberately taken the time to check, recheck, and triple-check my work to ensure that it won't alert me randomly in the middle of the night. So I start to head back to my car.

Just as I step foot onto the small grass strip that separates the sidewalk from the parking lot of the intersection corner plaza where my car's parked nearby, I hear a sudden gunning of a car engine. It's not the normal gunning of a car engine that you'd hear from something like a sports car whose owner's deliberately doing that to get the attention of passersby and to generally show off in front of a large number of people, this is the sound of someone _stomping_ on their accelerator with the firmest of convictions, and _that_ isn't normal, even if it is in the middle of the night. Plus, there're still quite a few cars driving around here, as this is one of the major intersections in the town, so if someone's slamming on their accelerator pad like that, someone's bound to get hurt.

I whip around quickly, and that's where my reflexes kick in. The world around me mutates and becomes blurry, and everything that I hear swiftly distorts itself and becomes very deep and full of bass, just like those corny slow-motion effects that you'd hear in video games and movies and stuff, but this is the time when I need to assess my situation and figure out what's going on before my reflexes wear off.

My eyes quickly find the problem: there's a white 2017 Toyota Tacoma truck blazing across the intersection, about halfway through already. Not only is it clearly running a red light when the perpendicular traffic is still going, but when I take one look at the driver's face, I can instantly tell that he's been drinking; I've seen enough of my friends drunk to know what being intoxicated with booze looks like. Luckily, the truck has ran the red light at the perfect time when there's no through traffic; however, there's a minivan, one of those new 2018 Kia Sedona's, that's in the middle of taking a left turn into the other corner intersection plaza across the street, and I can tell that the truck is going to ram full speed into that minivan if I let things run their natural course.

As soon as I piece these things together, I spring into action. There's no need for thoughts, no need for words. Words and thoughts don't save people, only actions do.

The world resumes its regular flow of time, and I blast off the ground as soon as it does - and I put myself right in between both of the vehicles, right before the truck can slam into the side of the minivan.

* * *

"Ah, Master ~ ! You're back, we were waiting on you to - **_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!"_**

The living room positively _explodes_ with a dreadful scream when I reach the top of the stairs from the garage. You can probably guess who's responsible for it, but this time she has a good reason: I'm gripping my right arm again, which is hanging limply against my side: it's slightly bent the wrong way at the elbow, my jacket sleeve is torn at the elbow as well, splattered at the edges with my own blood with the rear piece of sleeve hanging behind my mangled arm, and the skin and muscles are gouged out around the elbow too. Several arteries and veins have been ripped open and even popped out; I've already applied emergency first aid on myself, but due to the extensive damage, the only first aid I could do before getting home was to just stop the bleeding with magic blocker runes for long enough for me to reach home to treat it further, though obviously enough blood's spilled out to make my forearm look like a personal Niagara Falls; from the angle that the girls see me when I reach the second floor from the garage, I can imagine that to them, it seems like I've just dunked my entire arm into a vat full of blood or something.

As expected, Tamamo darts over to me to figure out what's going on, which, knowing her, I fully expect and face her, not intending to try to hide anything, and she immediately reaches for my arm, but when she sees just what kind of a condition it's in, she freezes, staring at it with her eyes widening in horror. She then quickly looks up at me, as if silently asking for an answer.

"Some drunk shithead was about to run into another car near where I was working," I grumble a little irritably, but I'm more tired than anything, no thanks to the blood loss I've suffered. "So I stopped him. But this happened..."

By this time, the others also crowd around as Tamamo swiftly pulls me over to the living room so that she can get started treating it, I would assume.

"Wait, Senpai, what happened...!?" Matthew, who didn't hear me the first time because I was muttering, asks me, her face also contorted with horror at the sight of my arm looking like the way it does.

"There was a drunk driver near the place I had to go to to check on my sensor," I explain again, sitting down next to Tamamo and letting her take a look at my wounds on my right arm. "He was about to hit another car, and I was in a position to stop him 'cause I was nearby, so I did. Oh, Tamamo, hold on..."

"Eh? Wait, Master, what're you going to - " Tamamo almost frantically asks, but then she gasps horribly again when she realizes that I've got my left hand on my right forearm. "No, no, Master, wait, you aren't going to - "

 _ **C-CRA-CRACK.**_

It's not just Tamamo who squeals in fright in response to the sound of me setting my elbow straight; both Matthew and Lily join her, while Artoria winces a little. Saber Alter is the only one who, not surprisingly, doesn't seem to change expression at what I've done to myself.

God, that hurts. I would have done that before getting home, but I didn't in case I passed out from the sheer amount of pain that I would feel doing that; I'd rather do this in the (relative) safety of my home rather than outside in the middle of the night.

"Take it away," I force a painful smile at Tamamo, offering her my arm again, after making sure that I'm not about to pass out. Pain has numbed my head, to the point where my hearing has gone numb as well, and my voice sounds only about as half as loud as it normally is. It's slowly coming back, though.

 ** _"Master, you didn't have to do that!"_** Tamamo wails as she scrambles to apply her magical first aid, carefully placing talismans on my arm around my brutalized elbow. "Matthew-chan, quickly, fetch me a towel or something so the blood doesn't get on the floor..."

"Okay! Um, Senpai, where do you keep the towels, if you - "

"Upstairs, you'll see some cabinets to the right, open up the bottom and you'll find some."

Nodding quickly, Matthew sprints up the stairs, with Fou bounding after her.

"Oh, I _knew_ that I should've gone with you..." Tamamo frets intensely, making me feel bad that I refused her so intently just before leaving. "Even if you say that this area is relatively safe, things like this can always happen! What if something worse were to happen, and we didn't know about it until it was too late?"

"I think I remember Matthew telling me about how I could use Command Spells to summon you right next to me or something..." I murmur, realizing that it's a little hard to think due to the pain combined with moderate blood loss. "So...maybe I could've done that...?"

"More than that, Master, if this is the work of a rival mage who is threatening to encroach onto your territory, I suggest we hunt them down immediately," Saber Alter says, and I can hear the subtle enthusiasm in her voice.

"No, this isn't because of another mage. Just a freak accident," I correct her rapidly before she can run with that self-generated misunderstanding.

"Freak accident? You're trying to convince us that you return home with an injury as such and claim that it is not the work of an enemy?" Salter presses the issue, both scornfully and in disbelief.

"I hope you realize that not everything that happens is because of a mage, 'cause the normal world has its own fair share of shit happening too. I know because I tread that fine line where I manage to live in both and find the balance between the two. I just happened to be at one incident tonight..."

"If it does not trouble you, Master, could you elaborate to us exactly what happened? As much as you can," Artoria, clearly more concerned about my condition than her Alter form is, asks politely but urgently.

So I patiently elaborate on the sequence of events that led to me returning home with a destroyed right arm, from the problem with the sensor that I tuned there a few days ago to the moment where I put myself in between the two cars before the truck was about to crash into the minivan.

"And let me make this clear," I finish, "I didn't sense any other magical presence in the area. So personally I don't think this is because someone intended for that to happen to try to kill me, that's just a pure accident. People drive drunk sometimes, that's just what happens sometimes, unfortunately."

"What happened to others involved? The people inside the vehicles?" Artoria asks.

"The truck I managed to direct in a different direction," I recall, wincing when I remember the initial explosion of pain of the truck slamming right into my right elbow. "I caused it to crash into a street light nearby, and the minivan was safe - the people inside most likely saw the truck about to hit them, maybe, but they're fine."

Silence ensues as Tamamo continues to work on my arm. I no longer feel pain in it, and when I glance down at it, I can see the crushed cartilage, bone, and gouged skin and muscle reconstitute itself back to normal within the healing field that Tamamo's talismans have established.

Matthew returns finally, having taken a bit longer than I thought she would, with a clean white bath towel that she puts underneath my arm after wiping the floor with it first to clean up the blood that's dripped off.

"Then tell me, Master," Artoria Alter breaks the silence, in case you don't consider Matthew cleaning up my blood off the floor breaking the silence already. "Are you the kind of Master who has a overwhelmingly arbitrary desire to save other humans?"

At this, Artoria immediately snaps her gaze onto her Alter self, like a sentry turret locking onto a potential target.

"Even if he is not here, Alter, I will not permit you to speak ill of him," she declares calmly but fiercely. "So speak _carefully_."

Salter simply snorts in response. "I simply found his infatuation with trying to be as much of a hero as possible irritating. I wish to know if this is the case with our Master this time as well."

"Talkin' about someone I don't know about?" I ask, since I obviously don't know what or who they're talking about.

"A previous Master of hers," Salter beckons in Artoria's direction, "but that needs no mention here. The question remains, however: do you possess the same inclination, Master? That of being a hero?"

I narrow my eyes at her, wondering what this is all about. "Uh, no, not...really? Why, do you have something against people who wanna be heroes?"

"Yes, quite. Such inclinations tend to make people naive, very naive. Sometimes that naivety grants them power, yes, but when they become disillusioned and their dreams of having hero-like tendencies are shattered, more often than not they are left broken and helpless. That is not what I seek in a Master, and as I have accepted you as mine for the time being, I would rather see to it that you did not walk that same broken path."

Before I can reply, Lily is faster on the draw.

"But this has nothing to do with being a hero!" Lily blurts out, and for the first time, she legitimately sounds quite angry. "Master saw that there were people who were going to be in trouble, and without him, they could've gotten hurt or worse!"

Salter just rolls her eyes at Lily. "Pray, tell me how that has _nothing_ to do with trying to be a hero."

Lily hesitates, pursing her lips as she's realized the glaring contradiction that her blurted statement holds, but she still finds something to throw back verbally at Alter.

"S-So what? In the end, he still made the right decision to save those people!"

"And potentially place his own life on the line for people who are irrelevant to him? People who will ultimately have no influence on the fate of the world as a whole? King of Knights, perhaps you could train her to graduate from her sense of naivety sooner as opposed to later?"

"What I _will_ say, though," I suddenly interrupt all of them with a very harsh tone of voice to immediately get everyone's attention, "is that yes, maybe they're irrelevant to me in the sense that I don't know them at all and vice versa, and yes, maybe they're just normal people with no magical lineage, but to assume that they're just nobodies that aren't worth saving is something I take issue with."

I gaze darkly over at Salter as I say this.

"If you _have_ to know, no, I'm not exactly someone who wants to go out to be a hero, and if you'd believe it, I never was. I'm just the kinda guy who stays at home, makes a decent living for himself, practices magecraft on the side mainly, you know, just a simple life, or as simple as I can make it. But that being said, if there's someone who needs help, and there's no reason for me not to give them a hand, I'll help out. And while I probably won't go out of my way to help out random people all the time, if I'm in the right place at the right time, or if I've specifically been requested to help somewhere, I'll do it. If that's what you define as a 'hero', then I guess I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Glancing down at my injured arm, I curl my fingers back and forth to see if I've regained control over them properly, which it seems like they have, or almost.

"Also, about you calling them just irrelevant people, I have a problem with that because I was one of them too," I snap at Saber Alter with a thick tone of my own scorn and annoyance. "I grew up as a normal kid who didn't have much of a talent for magecraft to begin with, and I probably would've never been one, or at least nowhere near as a proficient one that I am now, if it weren't for my dad deciding that he'd commit himself to teaching me magic. I was a nobody who became somebody through the right circumstances, and now you're the Servant of that former nobody."

Alter glares back at me, as if trying to incite a war of glares between the two of us.

"Then I can only presume that you are a rare case. You cannot possibly speak for everyone like yourself."

"Of course not, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. My point is that no matter how low, there's always the chance that someone like me with the roots that I had can actually become somebody relevant, as far as the magical world is concerned." I wave my left hand up in Salter's direction. "But that's not even the real point I wanted to make, I saved those people because I wanted to. Not only because drunk driving is shitty and I personally know a few people whose lives were affected by drunk drivers, but also because if I can prevent a tragedy from happening to a family that doesn't deserve it, then I'll try to prevent it. What's irrelevant is whether or not I'm doing all this for the sake of wanting to be a hero."

Tamamo removes the healing talismans off my arm as I talk, and I flex my arm and rub my freshly healed elbow uncomfortably, still feeling the aftershock of the massive pain that exploded from there.

"But I guess if it makes you feel better about yourself, there _have_ been times when I've tried helping or saving people and I failed," I grumble loudly, facing down at my arm while I rub my elbow to make sure that it's fully healed. "It sucks, but you learn to live with it, in the hopes that maybe the next person you try to save might have a better fate at the end of it. I know that this might be a bit of a hard concept for you to understand, Alter, but it _is_ possible to want to help other people but not be naive about it at the same time, but to your credit, there aren't a lot of people who can do that. I like to think of myself as one of those people, but of course I won't say that for sure."

"It would seem that I've touched a nerve, Master," Saber Alter returns, a bit of a smirk creeping up on her face, if my facial expression-reading skills are doing me any favors.

"Hm, I guess. But what does that matter to you?" I return swiftly. "Unless you just want an excuse to ridicule me in a way that amuses you, but you're a Servant, not a fucking clown. I wouldn't've guessed that a Heroic Spirit like yourself would choose to stoop that low."

"You should possess such an expectation of the King of Knights. I am no longer a King or a Knight; I am your Servant, and nothing more," Salter responds very coldly. "Your expectations of me mean nothing, and most certainly neither do your words."

"Then if that's the case, why'd you even ask me anything in the first place?" I snap back at her, starting to get tired of this pointless dispute, so I turn to Tamamo instead. "We'll have to leave the drinking for another time, sorry. And I'll have to go to bed earlier tonight to try to recover from this..."

Tamamo nods sadly, her fox ears folded over to match her sentiment, but as soon as I begin to get up to my feet, Matthew halts me by saying,

"S-Senpai, I'm getting an incoming transmission from Chaldea!"

Turning around to face her, Matthew broadcasts the incoming message from Chaldea from her brooch, and out displays Roman on that blue hologram screen.

 _"Oh good, you guys are still awake. It's not too late, I hope?"_ the Doctor inquires within.

"It's like nine at night, so no, not really," I reply back to him. "What's up, Doc?"

 _"Aha, er, well..."_ Roman starts grimacing, which is pretty much the perfect sign that says that we're in some shit. _"We've detected the emergence of the next Singularity, and it's in France. You ready to head to France?"_

I facepalm immediately.

 _"Ah...I figured..."_ Roman sighs, being able to see my reaction through the hologram.

"So tell me, Doc, is Olga paying for our tickets, or are we?"

 _"Uh, you are..."_

I swiftly turn around.

"Welp, good night, then."

 _"Wait, wait, that was just a joke, we're paying for your flights! Wait, August?! August!"_


	29. Thirty-Seven

"Ow. Uh, if you could, like, not grip my arm so tightly like that, I'd appreciate it..."

Wincing sharply in bed, I grit my teeth in the darkness of my room. I've turned off the lights, and Tamamo and I are about to go to sleep. I'm still not comfortable with Tamamo raiding my bed every night, but tonight I don't particularly feel motivated to try to convince her to bunk elsewhere.

"I'm sorry! I'll put some more healing on it - " Tamamo gasps softly, trying to rectify her error and swiftly sitting up on her side of the bed to take a look down at my arm.

"No, it's fine, just...just don't hold my arm too tight, that's all..."

But Tamamo's already sat up and turned on the lamp that stands next to the bed on the nightstand.

"Are you sure, Master?"

"Yes," I say firmly, gazing with equal firmness up at her with my head still resting against my small pillow. "Just give me some space for my arm to work with and I'll be fine."

Clearly not willing to completely obey my words, Tamamo reluctantly and slowly turns off the lamp and descends beneath the covers again, still in her usual miko clothes. But as much as she tries to cuddle _as closely as physically possible_ to my right arm without aggravating it, Caster still respects my wish and keeps her distance. She does, however, make an unspoken compromise by gently placing her hand on mine, clasping her fingers in between mine quite tenderly. My first reaction is to protest, but...it's a comforting feeling, me as a guy having a girl who clearly cares for my well-being hold my hand, even with the knowledge that I barely know said girl for more than a few days, if that. I briefly wonder silently to myself why it is that I have such a hard time adjusting to Tamamo cuddling up right next to me while I'm a lot more okay with letting her just hold my hand.

"How many times does something like this happen, Master?" Tamamo quietly murmurs to me. "Where you head out on some kind of business and you get injured?"

"Not often, actually. This's the first time something's happened to me in quite a while," I shake my head a little. "This used to happen way more often when I was first starting out as a mage, though, and especially back when I first became Resident Guardian, just after my dad died. But those were the days when I was a real amateur, when I didn't know what the magical world was like very much. Now that I know a little bit more about it, I've been able to protect myself better."

"But that still means that you got hurt a lot in the past?"

I shrug a little. "Bound to happen. I turned out okay in the end, though."

A brief but painful silence ensues on Tamamo's part. Even in this complete darkness, now that I've gotten a little bit of a grasp of Tamamo's personality and thought process, I can tell that she doesn't like this response at all.

"How do you normally deal with big injuries?" she asks.

"Depends on the injury. Take my arm tonight, for example. How I dealt with it earlier today was that I decided to drive straight back home without treating my arm first because it was dislocated; I needed to set my arm back in place before treating it properly, but if I were to do that outside of my house, there would be a chance that I would've just passed out on the spot because of the pain that I would've put myself through doing that. So I came back home and would've started treating it, because then if I did pass out, I would at least be at home, rather than outside where it could get potentially more dangerous. If it were a less serious injury, I probably could've treated myself on the spot and come back home."

As I'm explaining my thought process to Tamamo, I suddenly remember that I still need to clean my car of the blood that's spilled in there. I'll have to take care of that tomorrow.

"But you didn't pass out when you set your arm straight earlier..." Tamamo points out.

"Guess not."

I feel Tamamo clasping my hand a bit more firmly. "You're quite accustomed to pain, no?"

"More than a normal human should, yes. But I did have a lot more painful stuff to deal with in the past, so...you could say that I've built up a bit of tolerance to it. Still doesn't make the pain any easier to deal with."

"Then why do you say you've built up a tolerance to it?"

"In the sense that I can feel more pain before passing out. But that has nothing to do with how much the pain itself hurts; _that_ I can't do much about, unfortunately."

I hear Tamamo sighing somewhat.

"Well, now that we're here, do try to rely on us to help you deal with things like this," she mumbles, gently rubbing my fingers quite deftly with a various combination of her own fingers, all while still clasping my hands. Very impressive motor skills. "I can already tell that you're quite the loner type, Master. Perhaps I've already told you that?"

"I think you have."

"Good, because part of becoming a good Master is knowing when to rely on us, you know. We're here for you for a reason, after all."

"Does that include letting you cook more often?"

 _"Yes._ And speaking of which - " Tamamo pulls up close to me, leaping on this perfect opportunity to segway into something that she prefers to talk about a lot more, "how did you like my cooking today?"

"It was great," I nod, remembering the heavenly sukiyaki she made for our second dinner, I guess - the sukiyaki was made with mizuna, oysters, and soft cubed tofu, and she extended the course with grilled unagi and lightly grilled anago. And I don't know how she found out that I like cooking mixed rice, but she even whipped up some mixed rice of her own, this time with thinly sliced mushrooms instead of beans. I'd had mushroom rice before, so it was a pleasant surprise to have seen her present that to us.

"As in, how great? On a scale of one to Tamamo-chan, how good was it?" Tamamo whispers rather strongly.

...what kind of a scale is that?

"...uuuhhhh..." I draw out my hesitation, trying to figure out what to say. "...I'd love to eat it again...?"

At this, Tamamo's instant response is a jubilant, overjoyed squeal, followed by my right shoulder getting attacked by one of her cheeks that she rams against it and begins to rub like she's trying to spark a flame.

"So you _have_ accepted me as your wife already! Why didn't you teeelllll meeeee ~ " she giggles under her breath.

I'm not sure how she got to that conclusion, but okay, sure, whatever. Did she think that I gave her the "please make rice for me everyday" response? That's the only thing that I can think of, that she must've twisted my words enough to get to that point. I feel that this hole that I'm digging is digging itself now, and there's nothing I can do to get myself out of it.

"Though, it'd be nice if I could cook for everyone too," I mention.

Tamamo immediately pouts at me.

"Muuuuu," is her reply.

"...you really don't like me cooking? Mind if I ask why?"

"Because cooking is the _wife's_ job! And since we've already fully established that _I_ am the wife - "

...We've?

" - it's only natural that _I_ take care of everything cooking-related," Tamamo concludes quite firmly, making it very clear that she does _not_ intend to surrender ground on this topic.

"...I mean, I _will_ say that we live in a day and age where men can learn to cook too and it's not a big deal," I shrug. "I personally don't see what's so bad about having either of us cook. And it would be one thing if my cooking was actually _terrible_ , but I have enough confidence in my cooking that it isn't."

"W-Well, I understand _that_ , it's just - you've been living by yourself for a long while, right? So it's just better to leave that int he hands of someone who's just more experienced, ahaha..."

So much for Tamamo sounding like she wasn't going to give up ground on this whole cooking issue. So I continue my offense.

"I'm not even asking you not to cook. All I'm asking is that I can cook from time to time for everyone. And we can even cook together if dinner's something we both know how to make."

"Eh? Uh...c-cook...togeth...er...?"

My right side falls silent for a few moments. It seems like Tamamo is intrigued by this proposition, like she's never been confronted by a question like this.

"...don't like that idea, huh."

"Wait, no, no, Master, I - I never said I didn't like it!" Tamamo hurriedly scrambles to words. "It's...it's..uh... _interesting!_ Yes, _interesting!"_

But that doesn't answer my question.

Sighing a little, I decide to just let it go so that I can try to go to sleep against the throbbing pain that still pulsates from my right elbow. According to Roman, Chaldea's already booked our flights to France at the end of the week, on Friday, so we leave on the 28th bright 'n early in the morning. They've booked our flights at such a time so that we should already be in the country when the Singularity is predicted to occur, but I'm still worried either way because it wasn't like Chaldea was able to exactly predict with pinpoint accuracy when the first Singularity was going to open up either, so there's a definite risk that, now that we know that there'll be a Singularity in France, the Singularity may hit before we can get there, meaning that we'll have to get there by magical means instead, since flying _into_ the Singularity is going to be a very bad idea.

This means that, since I have no choice but to assume that I won't be coming back home for a prolonged period of time, I have to prepare accordingly - I have to mail my agents and business partners in China and my usual clients here in America that I have to be out of the office for some time due to family related stuff. Luckily for me, my dad, having been a side-mage much like myself in his days, already established this fact with everyone, which means that all I need to do is tell them that I won't be around to answer their calls or emails and they'll understand. I've made it seem like I just can't work outside of the house when I talked about this with the girls, but truth be told, I can actually work even without a laptop thanks to ENIAC; as long as I have a wireless Internet connection, ENIAC can give me access to my email, and I have all of my business data backed up on it as well. It's just that it's a lot more convenient working at home where I have full access to all of my resources - that, and while I _can_ call people using ENIAC, it has to broadcast the call using magical energy, which means that they can be detected by other mages or magical entities, and obviously I don't want that.

"Master?"

"Mhm?"

"I spoke with the others while you were away earlier tonight; they said that you're actually a really strong Master," Tamamo murmurs. Her voice has a neutral tone this time, but I can still pick up a very slight sense of concern.

"...so they say," I say slowly, choosing my words carefully.

"What, do you deny it?"

"I don't _deny_ it. But there _is_ a part of me that tells me that they're only saying that because they haven't had someone quite like me as their Master before. I don't know, just a feeling."

I turn my neck so that I face her for a moment.

"What do you think?"

"Well, I haven't actually seen you fight yet, so..."

Ah, that's right...I keep thinking that she has, just because of the way we first met, with her stopping Saber Alter from shoving Excalibur Morgan down my throat.

"But even if you might not agree that you're _strong_ , per se, at the very least, it would seem to me that you're quite adept at combat yourself," Tamamo continues on.

"So what're you tryin'a get at here?"

Tamamo clears her throat quietly, upon being prompted.

"Please try to stay out of danger when we go to France," she says resolutely. "From what I've heard from everyone else, especially when they told me about how you participated in the fighting directly in the first such Singularity that you encountered before I was summoned, you seem to be the type of Master who won't hesitate to get involved in the fighting."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"I-I wasn't done yet!" Caster squeals lightly, squeezing my right hand that she still insists on holding, by the way. "And so my point is, I feel like you're going to go out of your way to fight in places where it's just too dangerous for you to be fighting in. I heard about the part when you saved Lily-chan from Alter-san, and you suffered the temporary loss of your arm to do it. If something like that happens again, there's no telling that you might get even more badly hurt. I know that earlier this evening, you told Alter-san that you don't claim to be a hero, but you can't try to hide the fact that you're the type of person who would put yourself in harm's way for others, even your own Servants. That's no good, Master, no - good - !"

Tamamo taps my nose strictly in sync with her words.

"Well, _normally_ I try to fight smart and in ways where I _don't_ deliberately put myself in harm's way, but I guess you won't believe me after what you've been told..." I sigh yet again. "But I will say that that's only when I'm operating by myself."

"Oh, so you _do_ try to keep other people in mind when you work with other people?"

"Yeah. I like making sure that my teammates or allies or whoever's on my side are safe, for the most part. It's...it's a habit I picked up from work, because in my line of work, if I treat my clients and business partners right and make sure that I can do everything I can for them to make their lives easier as far as our work's concerned, they tend to appreciate that and treat me the same way. Obviously that's not _always_ been the case, but most people aren't _too_ unreasonable."

I then snort a bit louder than I mean to.

"Now, people in the _magical_ world, on the other hand..."

"Yeah, I know, right," Tamamo pouts too in agreement. "People let magic get to their heads sometimes, and they turn out all weird and stuff..."

I frown quite deeply in the darkness of my room, because Tamamo either lacks self-consciousness or she just doesn't give a flying fuck.

"It's good that you have people who're like that. You don't wanna know the kinds of people I've seen and had to deal with..." Tamamo grumbles, nuzzling my right shoulder and pulling even more closely to me.

"I mean, I've met my fair share of those kinds of people too. It goes both ways..."

"How did _you_ have to deal with them?"

"Luckily for me, the vast majority of those kinds of people were my enemies. So most of them I don't have to worry about anymore."

"What, because you killed them all?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination."

"Then what about people you didn't like who _weren't_ your enemies?"

"I have my ways of, uh, never having to deal with them again. It's..." I reach my other hand up to scratch my cheek. "...it's kind of a cop-out way of dealing with them, I'll admit. I just don't feel like I have the patience to force myself to deal with people like that, people whom I don't like or feel like I just won't work well with. Rather than taking the time to learn how to deal with them, I'd rather just get rid 'a them, one way or another."

Another brief moment of silence.

"...then..." Tamamo whispers softly to me, "...what about us?"

"...you're worried that I don't like you or the others?"

It's Tamamo's turn to sigh a little this time. "Well, you _did_ say that you wanted to get rid of us because of your contract thingy with Chaldea..."

"But that wasn't because I didn't like you girls; you girls weren't the reason for that."

"But I'd imagine that if you liked us more, you would've, y'know, maybe given us another shot..."

"I mean, I _am_...but that's not the point."

I pause before continuing.

"In any case, I'll try to keep myself out of trouble while we're over there, and in case something happens to me, I'll do my best to keep myself alive, since I think I'm pretty good at that. But just keep in mind that if the situation calls for me to pitch in, I will."

I feel Tamamo squeezing my arm.

"Then if that's how you feel, don't mind if I stay with you for the duration of this Singularity," Tamamo declares.

Shrugging again, I calmly accept her deal. "Sure."

"And tomorrow, Master, will you allow me to conduct a small little spar with you? Just so that I know what you're capable of."

"Are you gonna try 'n kill me like Salter was?"

"No, of course not!"

* * *

Tuesday, April 25th.

As promised, Tamamo and I now face each other on the grass field at Meridian Park. I spent all of this morning after waking up bright and early at five o'clock letting my contacts know that I'll be out of town starting this week until further notice, so I was busy with that all morning, on top of the usual workload for today. For now, though, it's not even half an hour since we had lunch, and the three Artoria's are sitting on the sidelines, near the paved walkway that wraps around the grass field for people to take leisurely walks on, either by themselves or with their dogs. Lily had a fine time just earlier playing with someone's Corgi that they were walking just before I activated my presence concealment field - it would appear that Lily has a big soft spot for pets, as she kept longingly looking after the Corgi as it and its owner went on their peaceful way, even after I set up the field.

"So..." I call over to her, though not very loudly, since we're only standing some ten or so meters away from one another. "How do you wanna do this? Since you're a Caster and all..."

"Even if I _am_ a Caster, I have my own fair share of martial arts experience!" Tamamo proclaims quite proudly, actually, looking quite smug about it. "But _unlike_ a certain brute to my left, I won't be fighting to kill."

I feel a momentary flicker of sinister intent from my right. Guess where _that_ came from.

"Then let's hurry it up - there's not too many people here now, but in about an hour, there'll be a lot more people here, since school'll be out and kids and their parents'll come by 'n stuff," I explain to Caster, cracking my knuckles quickly. "Do you want me to make the first move, or you?"

"Well, since _I'm_ the one who wanted this, I shall start! Here I come, Master!"

I can't help but wonder if this kind of combat initiation is going to happen every time I stumble across a new Servant. From what I've heard and read, Masters in Holy Grail Wars don't usually have Servants running around testing their Masters' combat abilities, but...oh well, there's always room for unprecedented matters, I guess.

Tamamo snaps up her right hand, pulling out a set of three talismans all intricately scribbled with calligraphy ink kanji, which I presume she pulled out of her sleeve, and with the flick of her elbow, she throws all of them at once at me. The talismans go flying a lot faster than I expect, and keep in mind that we're still only standing some ten meters away from each other. My reflexes trigger at the first moment I realize that I'm under attack, and just like yesterday, the world grinds painfully to a near-halt as I have a few precious moments to assess my best move, which I determine to be to kick myself off the ground backwards to land on my back and dodge the incoming talismans Matrix-style. And the moment I make this decision, my perceived flow of time resumes quickly, like water gushing out of a garden hose after the nozzle is held almost completely shut for a moment.

Feeling the ground thump the back of my hoodie jacket, I immediately peek down to see where Tamamo is, if she's moved at all, but she hasn't; seems like she's just thrown those initial talismans to test my reactions and nothing else, but judging by the look on her face, it seems that I've somewhat impressed her. The talismans she's thrown at me don't go off, as I've already warned Tamamo not to create collateral damage, because the field that I've erected here in the park is a presence concealment field, not a whole Reality Marble like Salter's Singularity was - the last thing we need is to make Lily cry because we've accidentally hurt the Corgi that she's made friends with just a few minutes ago.

"Hai!"

Uttering a rather cute cry, Tamamo suddenly leaps up into the air, this time with both hands full of even more talismans, right over me at a height of about twenty meters. I don't hesitate to see what she's about to do, preferring to exert my efforts into getting the hell out of the way of whatever she's about to throw down at me, so I turn to my left and push myself up off the grass to flash-step out of the way before a funnel of scorching flame spews down from above. So much for _not_ trying to kill me.

"You said that you weren't gonna try to kill me, what's up with that?" I shout over to Caster once I brake to a halt and turn around to face her.

"Those flames were nonlethal! Even if they hit you, it's not like you would've _actually_ been burned or anything ~ !" Tamamo calls back, giving me the peace sign while playfully sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. I definitely recall mentioning last night to her about people who were hard to get along with in the magical side of the world...

I swiftly raise my own hand up over my shoulder and snap my fingers, and behind me, some six blue runes snap into place into the air and begin to shine before soon letting loose a quick hail of blue energy bullets aimed downwards at the ground so that they won't go flying out of the park on accident. I don't bother aiming them directly at Tamamo because the purpose of these runes isn't to damage her, but rather to cover my approach. In response, Tamamo conjures out of nowhere a flurry of large, fancily decorated mirrors with gold frames, and they snap themselves to place too in front of her, creating an invisible barrier that flashes a dark violet each time an energy bullet pelts it, reflecting the bullets back down into the ground in my direction.

In the brief chaos of the flying bullets, I burst off the ground to close the distance between me and Caster. The barrier that she's set up is a perfect opportunity for me to test an anti-barrier spell that I've been quietly working on, as my recent magical encounters have pitted me against mages or enemies who like relying on magical barriers a lot, and testing it out on the barrier of someone like Tamamo no Mae is probably a good way to see how much more I need to calibrate it.

Pulling back my right arm, I release the spell into my arm, and it visibly wraps around my arm until it reaches my fist, at which point it connects to the front and back of my wrist and causes my fist to shine subtly with a blue afterglow. This is done before I take my last flash-step to reach Tamamo's barrier so that when I appear right in front of it, I'm already in the motion of throwing my right fist forward to punch the barrier in an attempt to break through.

And just as I expected, my fist connects with the barrier - and does absolutely nothing. The caliber of a barrier created by a divine Servant is indeed on another level than us puny mortals. But because I knew that my anti-barrier reinforcement spell was really weak because I'd only barely finished creating it last week or so, I put a _lot_ of power into my punch in an attempt to compensate for its lackluster strength, so all I end up doing with this attack is hear the knuckles of my right fist emit a series of spine-tingling _CRACK_ 's that go off so rapidly that it just sounds like one big elongated crack instead. My body registers the pain faster than I can physically react to it with facial expressions, my arm screaming as the nerves starting from my hands up get set on fire. Now I begin to feel _very_ thankful that Tamamo has chosen to sleep with me, as her nursing overnight while we slept has restored my arm to full health after yesterday's little incident.

But all I show on my face is a disgruntled expression indicated by a pair of narrowed eyes as I mask the pain from my hand - if Tamamo finds out about the fact that I've broken my knuckles, she'll end this fight immediately, and even though I wasn't the one who suggested this spar in the first place, now that I'm in the middle of it, I do want to know what kinds of attacks and spells she's got just for future reference. Thankfully the cracks that my knuckles made weren't that loud, and the last of the bullets that were reflected by the barrier are just about done crashing into the ground behind me, further masking their sounds.

But the distraction that my broken knuckles cause allow Tamamo to retaliate by swooping in towards me and barrage me with a flurry of kicks that she throws at me with her right leg, channeling her inner Chun-Li. She attacks swiftly as soon as she realizes that my failed barrier-piercing punch has done nothing, and with the distraction that my broken knuckles has caused, I wind up catching her feet with my face, and the top of Tamamo's foot kicks me around for a few seconds like a punching bag (or a kick-boxing bag?) before she ends the combo with a well-aimed kick at my collar bone. The kicks themselves actually don't hurt, true to Tamamo's promise that she isn't trying to kill me, as they hurt just about as much as getting hit by a pillow - granted, a pillow if someone were to whack you with it with full force.

Even as I grind my back a second time against the grass against my jacket, an idea pops into my head.

"Tamamo!" I call over to her, quickly getting back up to my feet and doing my best to ignore the massive throbbing in my right hand. "That attack, do it again!"

"Again?" she calls back, sounding a little puzzled.

"Yeah. There's something I wanna try!"

But Caster ignores that second bit, as she's nodding to herself with great satisfaction. "Master's recognized my martial arts skills - after all these years training, I _knew_ they were gonna pay off some time! Prepare yourself, Master, here it comes!"

And with that, she dashes across the field, soaring over it like she's flying before landing on her left foot right in front of me so that she can raise her right leg to perform her own version of Hyakuretsukyaku.

The very first kick she throws at me, with all the time and preparation that I need, I parry it with the back of my left hand. However, rather than bursting my mana from the back of my hand to push Tamamo's leg back, I release just enough so that I stop Tamamo's foot's momentum and nullify the physical damage that it can deal against my hand, but at the same time making it so that she's free to continue her lightning leg attack.

My sense of time slows to a crawl once again, but this time, it's nowhere near as painful as it was the first time around. I remember all the places where Tamamo has kicked me with her first Hyakuretsukyaku, so armed with that knowledge, I predict where each of her kicks will go and maneuver my left arm accordingly to parry each of her kicks, releasing just the right amount of mana to get every single parry right. Tamamo's kicks are all well executed and are masterfully timed, supporting her claim that she's practiced in martial arts quite nicely, and this works out in my advantage because her kicks thus follow a rhythm that helps guide my arm to meet her foot in each of the areas where she would've otherwise kicked me.

 _"Hai!"_

Uttering her battle cry again, Tamamo then throws out her last kick at me just like from before, but as soon as I see her turn her back so that she can throw out that kick at my face, my left hand is already where it needs to be, meeting her foot with the back of the hand. Tamamo holds her kick like that for a moment, and her foot simply gently presses against the back of my hand once the invisible mana that I've used to cushion the impact of her kick disperses, and I pull my hand away, flexing it a little before Caster, too, lowers her leg.

"Sorry for making you do that," I apologize to her, giving her an awkward smile. "I just really wanted to try something."

But Tamamo doesn't say anything at first, which catches my attention, so I glance directly over at her. The expression that she's got on is one of perplexed wonder, and I'm not very sure why that is.

"...somethin' wrong?" I ask her slowly, starting to get a little worried that she's found out something about me that she'd rather not know, like in those animes where the main protagonist turns out to have some sort of tragic super power that they don't know that they have.

Shaking her head quickly, Tamamo snaps out of her perplexed look and starts to giggle quite awkwardly, making it even _more_ obvious that she's seeing me in a new light.

"N-No, it's nothing. That was enough for today, I think you'll be able to handle yourself. But you'll still be letting me stay with you when we go, right?"

She skips over to me and wiggles her finger in my face strictly.

"Er, yeah, sure..."


	30. This Ain't a Scene

**A/N:**

 **jnwosu100: you'll know when he does them. Maybe.  
**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

It's cloudy.

We're driving back down to Nelson again; after my little training session with Tamamo, I drove us back to the house, removed the far back seats, and immediately took off for Nelson. I dropped off the three Artoria's, though, since I don't really want to be driving around with an entire entourage for the place we're going to today. While they (specifically Artoria and Lily) weren't anywhere near as much of a pain as Tamamo was yesterday to convince to stay at home, they did have me promise them that if something were to happen, I would burn a Command Spell to order all three of them to my location to assist me in whatever situation that may unfold. Artoria even personally confirmed Matthew's theory that a Command Spell was powerful enough to bend the laws of physics and reality, and that she'd been given an order similar to the one she suggested and could vouch for its legitimacy. She didn't bother going into the specifics, I noticed.

I feel like I've been making a lot of promises lately. I feel a certain way about promises in general, but now's not the time or place to talk about that.

So, naturally, with the Artoria's back at home, that leaves Tamamo, who's sitting shotgun next to me, and Matthew, who's cuddled up with Fou directly behind me in the passenger seats in my white SUV Mercedes. And as for where we're going, we're headed to a local gun range that I know. More accurately, I'm going to go see someone that I know quite well who works there, and for my safety, to quote Tamamo, she and Matthew are catchin' a ride with me so that something like what happened yesterday won't happen again. Or, at the very least, won't have as much of a chance of happening in the first place. Prevention is the best form of treatment, Tamamo said. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Now, why don't I just simply call this "person that I know quite well" a friend?

Well, the circumstances surrounding our..."acquaintanceship" are rather unique. Unlike most of the people I know who aren't my personal friends, this guy didn't become a contact of mine through my father or the business that I inherited from him. I say that I "know him well" not because I actually do know a lot about him, but more for the reason that he and I somehow are always on the same wavelength. We need only exchange a few words and we can both figure out what each other's been up to, or what kinds of thoughts are going through each other's minds. Maybe that wouldn't be so surprising for a mage like myself, even if I practice "false" magic, but this guy isn't a mage at all...but that doesn't mean he doesn't know a thing or two about the magical world.

I glance over at Tamamo quickly just as the car stereo starts up a new song from my phone's playlist, and I see that she's gazing out of the window, watching the buildings pass by. This is a very stark contrast to her usual behavior from yesterday, when she was super talkative and always curious about the scenery around us as we drove over to the warehouse that we visited yesterday for my work. Something about our spar earlier today has spooked her, and it's obviously got something to do with the parries I performed against her rapid multi-kick move or whatever you want to call it. I haven't talked to her yet about it, since I don't want to make a scene in front of the other Servants, so I'll reserve that for tonight when she invades my bed as usual.

Other than that, I glance up at the sky out of my own side window too and think to myself that it's a damn shame that it's cloudy today - at Meridian Park, where the benches are on the far side of the grass field, you have a picturesque, almost panoramic view of the sea, and on a clear, sunny day, it's one of the hidden gems of the town, an absolutely gorgeous view; I get the feeling I've already mentioned this at some point. I still have trouble deciding whether I like the moonscape more or the sunscape - I'll just take the cop-out answer and say I love both, and that I really wanted to show the girls what the place looks like when it's sunny and clear. And since I know that Tamamo wanted to have a drink with me last night, I'll try to make it up to her by taking her back to Meridian Park at night to have a drink with her under the moon or something, I dunno. First idea that popped in my mind, anyway.

"Senpai...?" I hear Matthew ask hesitantly from behind. "Um, we're going to a, uh, gun range, right? I don't think you've explained why...you already have guns and supplies in your home, don't you?"

"I do, but considering the fact that we're gonna be flying over to France, and I probably won't be able to find a reliable place where I can get armed if I need to over there, I'm doing it now at a place that I know, where the people there are people I know and can trust, at least somewhat," I reply, pressing the accelerator pad again at the change of the light from red to green. "And the guns I have now are good enough for most stuff, but I wanna be a bit more prepared. I expect Singularities to just get tougher from here on out, and until I get a good grasp of just how difficult the rest of the Singularities're gonna be to get rid of, I'd rather be _over_ prepared than _under_."

As soon as I finish my thought, the lyrics of this new song that my phone's just started to play begins to flutter through the speakers and permeate the car interior.

 _澄んだ空 溜め込んだため息を_  
 _吸い込んで のみ込んでいく_  
 _重なった息の色が 作った青の色_

Oh, it's this song. I like this song.

Tamamo seems to think so too, because about a minute into it, I glance back over at her, and she's mouthing the lyrics after them, kinda like how people try to echo the lyrics of a song that they've never listened to before but really like at first listen. I decide not to point that out to her and leave her alone.

We weren't far from the gun range, so within the next ten minutes I take a left turn and pull into a wide but mostly empty street surrounded by big warehouses whose walls could use some fresh coats of white paint again. After taking that left turn, I soon take a right, pulling into a fenced parking lot spiked with cameras; some on the fences, some on the building itself, even one on the single main entrance door, staring ominously down at customers walking in for the day. Looks like there're a lot of people today shooting, judging by the number of cars; the fact that we've been having more and more shootings in the country has definitely scared people enough into purchasing handguns and whatnot for self-defense; it's always a tragically ironic fact that whenever there's a deadly shooting somewhere in America, gun ranges and gun stores have spikes of profit immediately afterwards because of people reacting by trying to prepare themselves against another possible shooting in the future. Interesting, but at the same time, fucked up, even if the blame can't really be fixed on any one entity.

I pull up the car in an empty spot and park it, beckoning to the girls.

"A'ight, we're here," I say simply, and the three of us hop out of the car, close our doors, and walk inside after I lock the car behind me. The familiar jingle of the doorbell as I open the door chimes over our heads as the three of us go through another set of doors to enter the actual gun range itself.

"'Eyyy, what's up, August?"

A Caucasian man who looks to be in his late twenties, tall and muscular, the type of guy who very obviously cares about his upper body stature with just one look at him, wearing the store uniform that sports the "Maxwell Munitions" logo on the left breast that consists of a white polo tee and hardy black pants, strides over to my side of the counter that he's been standing behind, extending a hand to me, which I reach and return. His hand could probably grasp my entire fist like a baseball if he tried.

"'Sup, dude. Is Chuck around?" I ask him.

"Oh, yeah, he's in his usual. Why, you didn't, uh, you didn't call him beforehand?" he asks back, but I notice that he's eyeing the girls behind me, which isn't surprising, as he's a bachelor himself with a known history of failed relationships.

"I did, but he didn't answer."

"Ah. Then you probably know what that means." He points across the room, where there's a very large bulletproof window installed into the wall that allows people from either side to look into the other side, and from here, we can see the rows of shooting booths inside the metallic range.

So I check if my friend's in there, walking up to the window and taking a cursory sweeping glance around - and sure enough, I see him on the far left.

"How long's he gonna stay out there?" I ask back to the guy behind the counter.

"He went in about an hour ago. Should be comin' back out soon, he usually doesn't spend more than an hour in there. And you already know that if we get a lotta customers in here, he'll give up his spot so that they can take his," he replies, returning to his work on the other side of the counter, well out of reach of the front counter where he stands behind, cleaning out the barrel of a disassembled Kimber 1911 Pro Carry II, his personal handgun, as he's a certified concealed-carry, or just "CCW" for short.

Matthew and Tamamo join me at the window, following my gaze over to the very tall Indian man to the far left.

"Is that your friend, Senpai?" she asks, with Fou, who's snuck in after us, since Matthew made sure to keep the doors open for him to follow us, tries to jump up to the bottom of the window to get a look, though the window is a bit too tall for him to peek over without Matthew's assistance.

"Yep, that's him," I nod. "His name is Chuck - he's the guy I wanna talk to today."

"It's a bit loud..." Tamamo murmurs, trying to keep her voice down, but she's grimacing quite hard, pulling her fox ears down against her head.

"Do those ears actually help you hear?" I ask her quietly, pointing up at them quickly, and Tamamo nods. "Yikes, sorry about this, I should'a asked you sooner."

"Oh, no, it's...it's okay, it's not _that_ bad..."

"So why do you want to talk to him? Is he the one who's going to supply you with your gear?" Matthew continues to ask.

"Yep. He's the guy I trust here, I guess you could say."

Matthew glances quickly around, then switches her tongue to Japanese to ask me, "Why, do you not trust the people here?"

"It's not that I don't trust the others, but the business that Chuck and I deal with is a little..." I frown deeply, replying in kind in my own Japanese, "...controversial."

"Er...how...how so...?"

"I'll explain either once I get to talk to my friend, or on our way back home. Oh, speakin' 'a which..."

Conveniently enough, Chuck appears to be packing up what gear he's brought into the range, and within a few minutes, he's broken apart the Mossberg 500 SPX that he's been test-firing, put the pieces into its case, and walking towards the gun range exit, where two sets of doors separate the gun store from the gun range for security purposes; once you open one door, you have to close that one before the other one gets unlocked for you to enter or exit. By the time he reenters the gun store, I'm already there to greet him. The moment he sees me waiting for him as he rounds the corner of the exit, Chuck gives me a big smile and extends his hand at me, just like the counter guy.

"Hello, August," he rumbles in his deep, heavily Indian-accented voice. At six feet, seven inches, he towers over me easily, and compared to him, my body looks like a fucking twig. "Long time no see. Why you no call? You usually call before coming."

"I did, but I guess you were already in the range."

"Ah, that why, maybe. OK, we go to my office." He then notices Matthew and Tamamo standing close behind me. "Friends?"

"Ah...yeaaaah," I say quickly, but I drag out the "yeah" because I have second thoughts on what to call them, but for convenience's sake I'll just leave it at that. "This is Matthew, and this is, uh, Tamamo."

"Ok. I'm Chuck, August friend," he smiles courteously at them and extends his hand at them too. My hand could barely give his a proper handshake, so when Matthew tries to return it herself, Chuck ends up practically _holding_ her hand. Tamamo pulls on the world's most awkward smile as she, too, returns it. "Ok, now we go."

So we follow him towards his office, which is left of the entrance and exit of the gun store itself, and he unlocks the door to let us in, making sure to close it behind Matthew. Fou is careful to stay ahead of me so that he can slip in after us so that he doesn't accidentally get locked out.

Inside Chuck's office is a room that is most definitely not just a mere office: aside from the single corner cubicle that might resemble an office with a computer, a laptop, and a mass of electrical equipment and wiring, the room itself is about the size of a small conference room, with the majority of the floor space occupied by boxes and boxes of various kinds of ammunition, weapon cases and crates, and shelves filled with even more munitions like specialized rounds, grenades, and smaller cases containing weapon attachments and other various assortments of specialized gear.

Did I mention that this was his office? No? This is his office. It's a wonderful place, isn't it?

Chuck sets down his shotgun weapon case next to his desk and turns to reach into the mini-fridge sitting on the other side of his desk.

"Cold one?" he asks, offering me a chilled bottle of Raspberry Smash CiderBoys. I smile and take it from him, giving him a silent nod of thanks - normally I abstain from alcohol because I just don't like it, but hard cider is my one true alcoholic weakness - the sweeter, the better, since the sweeter the booze, the less booze I have to deal with when I drink it. He also offers some hard cider to the girls, and Tamamo, her interest piqued by the taste, especially after seeing me take a bottle, accepts hers quietly too, while Matthew politely refuses hers.

"I-I'm not of legal drinking age in this country..." she explains, a little embarrassed, causing Chuck to chuckle, no pun intended.

"Well, what I do here not legal anyway, but that fine," he smiles like usual, putting the refused bottle of cider back into his mini-fridge. For himself, he pulls out a cold can of Kirin, immediately cracking it open while I twist the cap of my bottle off to clink our drinks together and taking our first swigs at the same time. "Ok, Mr. August. What can I do for you today?"

Before I speak, I raise a finger of my hand that's not holding my cider and wave it around, gesturing around the room.

"Room is secure, yes."

"Good. I need to stock up, got another assignment. These girls behind me're involved," I tell him swiftly.

"Mm, thought so. How big?"

"Pretty big, possibly the biggest assignment I got so far. You ever heard of these 'Singularities'?"

"Singularity...no," Chuck shakes his head, turning after having heard me confirm that this is a big assignment to pick up the PDA off his desk in front of his computer, setting down his beer to handle it properly.

"In short, from what I've been able to tell, it's a weak Reality Marble. Comes in, establishes itself, and slowly spreads havoc until it punches a hole in our reality," I summarize quickly for him. "The enemies we'll face there are Heroic Spirits, or 'Servants'. You've heard of them, right?"

"Ah, Holy Grail War? Yes, I know," he nods sagely, still looking down at his PDA as he taps and swipes with his right index finger.

"W-Wait, Senpai, is it really alright for you to be talking about this with - ?" Matthew interrupts me, again in Japanese, clearly alarmed at the fact that I'm discussing this matter with someone who, other than his very well-built stature, seems like an ordinary human.

"It's fine, he's was already one of us anyway," I shrug casually. "There's gonna be one in France, and I've been called to handle it with these girls and some others."

Chuck continues to nod, then hands the PDA to me, which I take.

"Current inventory," he says concisely, picking his can of Kirin back up to take another sip. "Top is newest. When you leave?"

"This Friday, so in four days."

"Four days...depending on what you want, I can get some stuff if you want but not here," Chuck explains, now taking off his slightly tinted shooting glasses and replacing them with proper glasses from one of his desk drawers.

"Nah, I'll just take whatever you have here," I shake my head, swiping down the PDA with my own finger as well. Assault rifles, submachine guns, automatic shotguns, military-grade sniper and even anti-materiel rifles - in addition to the whole slew of tactical gear and equipment and whatever else's stored up in this room.

"Then feel free to try, like always."

"Sure. Where's your SCAR's?"

"B3, first row."

So I walk over to the indicated cache of weapon cases, which are actually neatly arranged into little caches throughout the room, spaced apart so that a person could walk around them and through them to access all of them at any time. I reach the indicated cache and set down the PDA on top of the highest weapon case to open up one that's conveniently located at stomach-height for me to open up, and I pull out the fully assembled FN SCAR-H. I've always had a soft spot for the SCAR series of assault rifles, which I partly blame on the first-person shooter games that I played back when I was still in school. I've used the MK-17's before, and they're the perfect package that I'd want in a weapon: reliable, powerful, and fun to use. Normally I don't really care what kind of equipment I pick out for myself but every so often I come across some things that I just find myself growing attached to, and the SCAR-H is one of them. This one in my hands as I aim it around slowly at the ceiling and the far wall away from the others is the MK-17 Sniper Support Rifle, a DMR variant rather than a true assault rifle.

"I'll take this. Haven't used this one before," I call over to Chuck, placing the rifle back in its case and closing it.

"Which one?"

"Mark-17, SSR."

"Okay. Accessories?"

"None, just the rifle."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Still looking."

I pick up the PDA again to browse through it. I've already thought this through before getting here, so I have a good idea of what I'm looking for.

"AX-50?"

"E6, bottom."

Walking over to the next cache, I stoop down to the case that's sitting by itself in its own lonely little stack on the floor and open it up, kneeling down in front of it so that I can pick up the weapon inside, the Accuracy International AX-50.

Just in case.

"Takin' this too."

"Okay. What about ammo?"

"Makin' my own."

"Right."

After spending about twenty minutes carefully hand-picking my equipment, I present everything to Chuck, having put the cases in front of him for his viewing convenience.

"AX-50...MK-17 SSR...DP-12...BMCR..." Chuck murmurs, tapping away at the PDA that I've given back to him. "No accessory, no gear...you sure?"

"I'm gonna take the next few days preparing. Just need the guns," I tell him, having pulled out my wallet to fork out exactly a thousand dollars in hundred-dollar bills, and once he looks up from his PDA, I hand him the wad of cash. "The usual."

"Okay. This too much, though," Chuck's usual courteous smile turns upside down for a moment as he looks back up at me in questioning.

"In case I don't come back."

"Ah." Chuck nods sagely a second time. "Then I lose money."

"How much though, is the question."

Sighing, Chuck runs a hand over his short hair.

"The others...not so active anymore," he mutters, brooding. "Mage like you, very risky fighting style, using guns."

"Did the others get themselves killed?"

"A few. Not many, but...at this rate, I don't have customer much longer."

"You can branch out. Offer 'em to law enforcement around here. We all know that there'll be _some_ fuckin' trigger-happy cop who's gonna throw money at'cha to get shit like this."

"I think about it already, and I can do it. I know places..." Chuck sips some more Kirin. "...but not now. Business still good, and I have backup plan. But you are best customer. If you die, I go out of business!" Chuck laughs, and I roll my eyes sarcastically in response, going back to sipping my own hard cider casually. "Ok, transaction done. Now how you take this?"

"Through copious usage of bullshit."

"Bullshit?"

"Magic."

And the two of us both laugh, much to the confusion of Matthew and Tamamo behind me.

"You two, can you carry one of these cases each?" I ask the girls as I apply my Presence Concealment skill to all four of us. So each of us take a weapon case each while Chuck hits a button to open up the far wall that rises up like a garage door, allowing us to bypass the cameras that're set up at the gun store entrance - which my Presence Concealment spell would've fooled anyway. Under the protection of the concealment spell, we load up the weapon cases into my car in the back, thanks to the space that's been freed up due to the removal of the back seats.

"Have safe assignment," Chuck tells me, shaking my hand once more. "No maintenance fee, I cover."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just worry about me comin' back in one piece if you want the rest 'a the money."

"I worry about that for other people, not you."

We both share a small laugh before Chuck heads back into his "office" and shuts the door after himself, and the girls and I climb back into the car.

"...so - " Matthew says at first, but I'm already two steps ahead of her as I glance down at my rear-view camera to back the car up.

"He's a weapons trafficker, former US special forces," I explain, "but he's retired now from service. He brings in weapons from all around the world and loans them to mages like me who like using guns as part of their arsenals."

"Is he a mage?" Tamamo asks curiously, and when I glance over at her, I notice that her ears are twitching quite excitedly for some reason.

"Not exactly. And you seem pretty excited by this."

" _Because it's just like a secret agent movie!"_ Tamamo squeals like a fangirl. "Walking around in there and watching you inspect those weapons, it was just like how if we were in one of those spy movies, don't you think, Master?"

Since when did Caster watch movies like that? Hell, how does she know what a "movie" is? Is that the whole "cultural appropriation" thing that these Holy Grail Wars do?

"Uh, I guess. It's normal to me, though."

 _"Kyaaaa,_ Master's already used to that kind of thing, _so cooooool!"_ the foxy Caster squee's a little more. I guess Tamamo is secretly a fan of spy movies - and now I'm contemplating rewatching some of the more recent Bond movies with her or something at some point. I'm sure Salter would like to watch too, presumably while grubbing out on kettle popcorn and Snickers.

"But I detected magic inside his office; he definitely has security spells to ward away normal people, perhaps more," Matthew points out.

"That's 'cause he's very much so fascinated by magic, and he's studying as much as he can about it. While he himself can't practice actual magic, he _can_ write his own magic runes through devices like his computer or tablet, and then he can use those spells thanks to an arm transplant that he got from a dead mage somewhere."

"Uhhh..." Matthew hesitates, the implications of that statement slowly seeping in, "...did he...?"

"Nah, he didn't kill the guy for the transplant, the guy was already dead. Took his arm without permission, though, so that much was illegal. That, and Chuck already was missing an arm - that was the reason why he retired, was 'cause he lost it in his last mission, so now he's doing this for a living."

"Seems like you've known him for a long time, though," Tamamo notes.

"Hm, a few years, so...yeah, I guess so."

"Ah, Master, I forgot to ask, but how old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"Aha ~ so young ~ "

I try my best to ignore that last bit.


	31. Historical Discrepancy

"You fine with this?"

"Yes, really, I'll be fine! I'm ready to start whenever you are, Master!"

I sigh. I've lost count of the number of times I've sighed today, but the fact that I even bother to count should tell you something about me. Something definitely not _good_ , at that.

So I click off the safety of my loaned MK-17 SSR while proned out on the grass at Meridian Park, take aim directly at the middle of Matthew's cross-shield, and pull the trigger.

The crisp _boom_ of a deep, resonating rifle shot slams through the cool night air, and the energy bullet that I fire crashes straight into the middle of the cross-shield where I've aimed and bursts into a small blue mist that disperses quickly, and I feel the rifle's buttstock shove against my shoulder. The feeling of firing a SCAR like this is familiar, in the good way - there are civilian models that are California legal with the correct modifications, but having used a proper military-grade rifle like this, anything less than that is just too much of a downgrade. And I don't really feel like coughing up thirty-five hundred dollars for it, either. I'd consider if Chuck was willing to sell me this weapon, and to be honest, if I asked him, he probably would, but I'd rather not have to deal with the legality of it, as low as the chances are of me getting caught by law enforcement or whatever having such a gun in my possession.

In the meantime, I observe the strength of my bullet hitting against my self-proclaimed underclassman's shield. I've instructed her, upon her willingness to assist me, to crouch at fifty meters away from me and assume a defensive stance with her shield so that I can test the strength of the energy bullets that I've forged, and I want to test this before we leave for France with my new equipment to both calibrate my magic ammo tuning and get a good grasp of my newly procured equipment; I would _rather_ not go into a fight once we're inside the next Singularity and then have something really bad happen because I was lazy and didn't check my gear properly. Preparation is half the battle...or something like that. Who said that again?

"Mmph!"

I hear Matthew grunt even from all this way, and she recoils quite heavily from it. I've oversampled the tuning on my magic bullets before, and in the past when I tested it out on targets like cantaloupes and coconuts, sometimes I'd end up making them explode. While obviously I can't compare mere fruits to something like Matthew's cross-shield, that doesn't mean that I can just assume that she'll be all fine and dandy and nothing could ever go wrong, because the moment you think that, something will.

"While we are out here, Master, you don't mind if I also participate in this training?" Saber Alter asks, having already donned her dark battle armor, though it seems that she's opted not to wear that faceplate visor of hers or...whatever it's supposed to be.

I glance up at her, still prone. "Uhh...what do you have in mind?"

"You can shoot those bullets at me, and I will train my reflexes."

"Oh." Makes enough sense. "But I thought Servants don't really need to train...?"

"Servants are like the weapons that they wield - just as our swords become rusty, so too do our bodies. Training, even if only occasionally, will do much to prevent that outcome."

"...but your swords don't get rusty, either."

Salter very _conveniently_ ignores me at that moment.

Rolling my eyes a little, I glance down the iron sights of my rifle. Well, "iron sights" isn't technically accurate - the reason why I didn't elect to purchase any weapon accessories or additional equipment like extra magazines or, hell, any ammo at all is because I can create everything that I need for myself - magic optics, magic ammunition composed of supercondensed mana that can sustain itself thanks to a mana containment rune that I perfected about a year ago that allows me to create mana bullets that can emulate the ballistics of physical ammunition and withstand the stress of being fired through a gun like this enough to do damage - all I need is an actual firearm, and I can produce the rest. So rather than plain iron sights, above the Picatinny rail, there floats a softly shimmering blue hologram, a very simple hologram for the time being consisting of nothing more than a downwards crescent moon shape with a small red dot hanging over it, hovering right over the middle of Matthew's shield from my perspective.

I pull the trigger again, and this time, now that she's gotten a sense of the strength of my shots, Matthew fares much better, standing her ground firmly with the second bullet as it bursts again into another small blue mist before evaporating.

Tamamo whimpers slightly somewhere behind me, watching me as I test-fire my new rifle, so I call out to her,

"I can dampen the noise for you if you want."

"Ah, I'm fine, it's just - it's just gonna take me a little getting used to, aha ~ " she assures me, though not without a slight degree of awkwardness.

"The rest of you fine?" I ask the other Artoria's, and they nod quickly, so I return to my aim, taking the next minute or so emptying out the magazine, which carries a total of ten rounds for now. Once I expend all the bullets, I sit up and beckon at Matthew to bring it in.

"Your bullet strength was very good, Master," Matthew reports to me once she reaches us, showing me the cross-shield so that I can inspect the grouping that I've made with my bullets, as indicated by the slightly sizzling smudges that my magic bullets have made by leaving behind some of their magical residue, which is one of the many results of firing a supercondensed mana bullet at over seven hundred meters a second.

But after a quick inspection, I shake my head. "It's too strong. I have to tone it down a little," I frown slightly, reaching down at the magwell of my rifle and ejecting the magazine.

"Tone it down?" Matthew repeats after me, uncertain of what I mean by that.

So I point at the grouping of bullets in the center of the shield. "I can tell by how much residue's left behind if I've calibrated my bullets correctly, but there's too much, meaning that I've put too much explosive energy that acts as the bullets' powder charges. Basically a roundabout way of saying that these rounds're a little bit stronger than I'd like them to be."

Remembering the strength and energy that I put into making the first magazine's worth of rounds, I raise my left hand up a little, and at my fingertips spawn small runes that begin constructing another bullet, condensing the mana that I'm focusing towards my fingertips through the runes into cohesive shapes that eventually take the form of a bullet - first the primer, then the powder charge, then the bullet, and finally the magic casing to hold these components together. Once the bullet is complete, which takes me about a few seconds, I press it into the empty magazine in my other hand to begin hand-loading the second batch of bullets that I promptly get to work making.

"Deliberately weakening the strength of your attacks? And why would that be?" Salter asks quietly, but I know that she's feeling a bit triggered by this.

"For the sake of mana conservation," I explain swiftly. "Producing my own ammo can be really draining if I put too much energy into them. Ideally, I want to make a bullet that's light on mana usage but can still hit hard enough to kill a regular human being."

"...but, Master, regardless of how ideal your mana manipulation is, does this art not require a vast quantity of mana to begin with?" Artoria asks with tangible concern, watching me hand-craft and load my next set of magic bullets. "Because, while I do not mean to sound rude, I have not gotten the sense from you that your mana was abnormally substantial..."

"It _does_ need a lot," Tamamo confirms, also keenly watching my amateur magecraft. "Simply being able to create a tangible _shape_ with nothing but concentrated mana is nothing short of a significant feat for a human. And then using that shape as an attack..."

"I don't think it's all that amazing," I tell them, letting myself twist the left corners of my lips in response. "Everything that I'm doing right now is invalidated by the fact that I could just spend more money to do the exact same thing."

"Then why don't you?" Tamamo questions.

"Because it's gonna be a hassle and a half transporting equipment like that in 'n outta the country when we leave this Friday. And I'd rather get equipment like this from someone I can at least put a bit of trust into, rather than trying to get military-grade gear in a country that I've never been to."

After putting ten more magic bullets into the magazine, I pick up my rifle, click the magazine back in, and close the charging handle to load the first round, making sure to point the barrel away from Matthew, who then moves out of the way upon seeing me do so.

"Salter, your turn," I murmur over to her, setting down the gun on its side on the grass to stretch out my legs a little before stooping down to pick it back up.

"How did you train before this?" Lily asks me curiously. "Did others help you train like this?"

"I made my own targets. I'd go to the supermarket and buy stuff like watermelons, coconuts, cantaloupes...and I'd set 'em up on the ground and I'd shoot 'em," I explain, watching as Artoria Alter, also walking out to fifty meters, turns and faces me, nonchalantly holding her sword downwards at the ground. "You ready?"

Salter doesn't say anything, even though I know she's heard me, and she continues to assume that stance. I'll assume that she is.

Swiftly raising my SSR, I myself assume a standing firing stance, firmly rooting my feet against the ground and spacing them apart well for good balance, and I begin to shoot, aiming for center mass. Saber Alter's reactions are, not surprisingly, extremely good, as even in an improper stance she still bats away each of the bullets that my rifle belches at her with Excalibur Morgan. After dumping that magazine's worth of ammo, I lower my rifle again, but this time I feel a lot more confident about that batch, nodding to myself slightly. I think I'll make do with this.

"Master, if you need to hand-craft your ammunition every time, wouldn't...that be a problem?" Matthew asks.

I turn to her after dropping the magazine back out into my right hand so that I can lift it up to her and show it to her. Holding the magazine in plain sight, I concentrate my mana into the magazine, causing it to glow blue very briefly, and then I turn it over so that Matthew can see into the interior of the proprietary magazine.

"Now that I've gotten a feel for how strong I wanna make my bullets, I can instantly load them all at once," I elaborate. "That's how I'm getting around the problem of having no equipment. Even if I lose this mag, I can do this too." I click the magazine quickly back into the receiver to raise my right hand again, and concentrating again, I conjure an energy magazine shaped exactly like the SCAR one, itself filled with a batch of twenty bullets this time.

"Whoaaaa...Master's actually a really strong mage," Tamamo marvels aloud. I give her a bit of a funny look - she definitely didn't sound like that just a moment ago when she commented on my ability to produce and manipulate the shape and form of my mana.

"You sound like you're more used to Masters who don't at least know what they're doing," I remark, dissipating the energy magazine out of existence and gripping the underbarrel of my rifle again, spending another half a minute to empty out this mag's worth of energy bullets too.

"Well, certainly you could say that this is quite the change of pace," Tamamo pouts a little, having crossed her arms when I glance back at her after lowering my weapon. "Don't you think so too, Miss Blue Saber?"

Artoria somewhat forces an awkward smile, slightly adjusting her hold on her Excalibur, which she's holding downwards, with the tip of the blade planted slightly into the grass and the bottom of the handle pointed upwards and held in place by her palms that she rests on it.

"Well, I cannot say that this is _un_ familiar..." she comments lightly.

"Ooh, so you think you've had a Master like this?"

Artoria opts not to respond to that, but Tamamo, her fox ears twitching at the lack of a response from Saber, leans in a little, putting her hands on her hips.

"Blue Saber-san, don't tell me that you also have perfect memories of past Holy Grail Wars too?" she utters keenly, in Japanese, for whatever reason.

I inadvertently cut them off by resuming my test-firing at Saber Alter in the meantime, which may work out in Artoria's benefit, given the direction that their conversation is going. Another ten rounds are sent flying downrange, and Artoria Alter, as per usual, deflects them with ease, and by this point she's even able to control which direction she wants the bullets that she's deflecting to go with adaptive control of her blade to give her a wider spectrum of angles with which she can hold it.

"So it seems you are able to tell," Artoria gives a very small sigh, returning in her own Japanese. "I figured as much."

"Ooh, the King of Knights is recognizing my power? Yaay, Tamamo-chan's so honored, mikon ~ !" Caster celebrates rather cutely, giving herself a small little clap.

"Um...w-what does it mean, that you have perfect memories of previous Grail Wars?" I hear Matthew ask as well, just as curious as I am in regards to the conversation going on between the other two. In the meantime, I slip the MK-17 SSR into magical storage, the same storage that I use to gain access to my pistols no matter where I am, even if they're stowed away in their boxes back home, and I withdraw the other rifle I wanted to test-fire, the Accuracy International AX-50.

"I'd like to know the details behind that as well," I wonder aloud, getting back down to prone position and setting down the rifle with its integrated bipod already deployed before I hit the ground. "Oh, by the way, you _might_ wanna cover your ears."

"Eek!"

Seeing that I've changed weapons, Tamamo takes my word for it and quickly presses down her fox ears with her hands, while the others, while not maintaining the same sense of urgency, also cover their own ears with their hands, while Matthew reaches down to pick up Fou and cover his ears for him. But the blast of the rifle report doesn't come, and so after about a minute, Tamamo, looking up finally and seeing that I'm only now inserting a mana bullet into the chamber and closing the bolt after a minute of calibration, gawks at me.

"You're only _now_ getting ready?!"

"I never said you needed to cover your ears _now."_

I can hear Tamamo make a cute but angry grumble in my direction.

"You're one of _those_ people, aren't you, Master? Those really _technical_ people?!" Tamamo accuses me.

"I may or may not object to that claim."

 _"You so totally are, though!"_

Just shrugging, I take the safety of the AX-50 off and aim down sights back at Salter again.

" _Now_ you should cover your ears," I warn them, pressing my finger against the trigger, but not pulling far enough to shoot yet to give Salter time to react, and react she does, sensing the drastic spike in mana output from my direction. Only then do I shoot.

The thunderclap that erupts out of the muzzle brake of the AX-50 splits the night air in half - there's a part of me that even gets scared that the sniper rifle report is so loud that it's penetrated the presence concealment barrier I've set up in this park and can be heard beyond the barrier, even though I know that's not possible. And with a tremendous report comes, naturally, tremendous recoil - while it might not seem like a big deal to an onlooker, this is definitely one of the strongest recoils I've felt from a weapon, though that's not saying much since my experience with a wide variety of firearms is admittedly very lacking. The butt of the rifle's stock shoves against my shoulder quite meanly, and although it's not unmanageable, it's definitely letting me know that it's vicious. I also noticed when firing that the muzzle brake, which is intended to dampen recoil by redirecting gas coming out of the barrel off to the sides through the perforations in the brake, the mana that has come out instead has carved small chasms into the grass on either side of the muzzle brake, and there's enough solidified magical residue that lingers on the flattened blades of grass to paint the grass blue for a few moments before evaporating into the air.

Salter just smacks the .50 caliber mana bullet away like it's just a slightly faster baseball. As expected of a Heroic Spirit; conventional military-grade weapons are complete shit against them.

After taking the shot, I pull back the bolt and watch the blue mana vapor sizzle out of the action, watching the amount that spews out carefully. For fifty-caliber mana rounds, it's difficult to gauge how well I've calibrated them just going off the strength of the shot like I was able to with the MK-17, as a fifty-caliber round is just so strong compared to smaller calibers that every shot will feel strong and devastating; instead, I judge it based on the concentration of mana that comes out when I open the bolt. It seems I've rolled a nat 20 and produced a bullet that's just right, so I'll keep that muscle memory at hand.

Turning around, I find that Tamamo is cringing hard in the aftermath of the shot, and Matthew isn't doing too well for herself either, having sacrificed her own hearing to protect Fou's.

"Sorry," I apologize quickly, electing to face them while still sitting down on the ground.

"Gosh, you could've _warned_ us about just _how_ loud that was gonna be!" Tamamo angrily pouts at me. I don't blame her for doing so this time.

"I mean, I _did_ warn you, though..."

"You seem like you were used to it, and you were not only the closest to the gun, but you didn't even cover your own ears..." Matthew points out.

"Well, yeah, not my first time firing a fiddy." But I wave my hand aside since I'm more interested in this talk of Servants having memories or whatever. "Anyways, continue on with whatever you guys were talking about. Something about you two remembering everything that you've been through before?"

"That's the way it is for me, yes," Tamamo says, uncovering her ears now. "I remember just about everything. The people I've met, the things I've done..."

"As do I, but...know that this is not normally the case, Master," Artoria advises me as Salter returns to us to join in.

"To explain, Master, Servants do not typically remember their previous incarnations in past Holy Grail Wars," Matthew inputs as exposition. "It would seem that Lady Tamamo and Lady Artoria both are exceptions to this..."

"But this is an abnormal Holy Grail War, and the method by which we have been summoned are much different than those that we know, or are more accustomed to," Artoria states. "It could very well be due to that."

But Tamamo shakes her head. "I don't know about all _that_ , Blue Saber-san. Excluding the two of us, it seems like Lily-chan hasn't been summoned before as a proper Servant, and Matthew-chan is only a Demi-Servant. Alter-san, what about you? Do _you_ have any memories of the past?"

"Of what business is it to you?" Salter quietly hisses back.

Tamamo just gives her a look of scorned disgust.

"Mkay then, moving _right along_..." Caster puts her hands back on her hips again.

"But when you first met Artoria, didn't you say that you knew her, but you didn't know exactly where or when?" I point out to Caster.

"Well, I meant to hide it, but I guess that's out the window now, _teehee ~ "_ Tamamo then clears her throat. "Anyways, you seemed to be interested in this a little bit, Master. Why's that?"

"Hm? Oh, no good reason," I shake my head quickly. "I just thought that it's actually pretty cool that Heroic Spirits like you guys might all know each other based off things that've happened in the past or whatever."

"Granted, some encounters are...less than pleasant," Artoria sighs heavily, and I think I know why she does this.

"Yeah, well, I guess that's just gonna happen, right. But still, it's pretty cool knowing that King Arthur knows a Japanese deity, and that no one's ever gonna know about _this_ part of history."

"I know, right? It's just like as if we're part of an exclusive club, right? Like VIP's, VIP's!" Tamamo squeals in delight.

We're then cut off by Salter's stomach starting to growl.

 _"Alter-san, do you know what time it is right now?!"_ Tamamo screeches lightly in a knee-jerk reaction.

"Time for me to make her a snack, apparently," I say rather dryly, causing everyone to break into casual laughter, much to Salter's chagrin.

* * *

After a delicious midnight snack of hard-boiled eggs and scrumptiously toasted ham and cheese sandwiches, we've retired for the night, and as per usual, Tamamo sneaks into my bed as I'm checking my phone for some last-minute emails from my agents and business partners in China.

"You _sure_ you don't want a room for yourself?" I sigh as she cuddles up next to me once I put my phone on the nightstand on my side of the bed.

"But that'd mean that I can't act as your wife as well..." Tamamo whines a little, just like a cute puppy who's sad that her owner isn't giving her some ear scratches.

Wife, huh. And now that I know that she remembers what she's done in previous Holy Grail Wars...

"Can I ask you about that?" I ask Caster.

"Hmm? Ask me about what?" she cocks her head a little, curiously.

"About your whole about wanting to be my wife. Are you serious about that? Or is that some sort of character gimmick that you have?"

Tamamo gives me a coy, but at the same time melancholic, smile.

"I suppose it's just best to leave it at a character gimmick," she remarks. I feel like she's saying that more to herself than to me. "Are you asking me that because you're not too comfortable with it?"

"I mean, again, I think I've mentioned this before, but it's a little bit weird to have a girl I've only known for a few days already be sleeping next to me in the same bed. Think we're skipping a lot of steps here."

Sighing deeply, Tamamo turns over underneath the blanket so that her whole body faces me.

"You see to be quite knowledgeable, Master, so let me ask if you know of my legend," Tamamo softly speaks to me.

"Tamamizu, or more commonly known as Tamamo no Mae, the legendary courtesan of Emperor Konoe who reigned from 1142 AD to 1155 AD," I recite dryly, conveniently ignoring the fact that I'm basically regurgitating what I've read on Wikipedia. "According to your legend as told by Katsushika Hokusai, you first showed up at the end of the Shang dynasty in China and possessed Daji, who was one of the concubines of King Zhou, the last Shang ruler, and you enchanted Zhou, who then began a reign of terror that ended in a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. You then ran away to Magadha, one of the sixteen Great Countries of Ancient India, where you became Lady Kayou, a concubine of the crown prince Banzoku, and compelled him to execute a thousand men by decapitation. You were driven out again after this, and then you returned to China around 780 BC to possess another one of the emperor's concubines, Bao Si, who was serving King You of the Zhou Dynasty, but you were driven out again by the military.

"After a period of dormancy, you resurfaced this time in Japan, in your current form, I assume, as the favorite courtesan of the retired Emperor Toba. You caused him to fall ill, and either the astrologer Abe no Seimei or his descendant Abe no Yasuchika was called to diagnose his condition and exposed you as the culprit. You ran away again, and a few years later, Toba sent Kazusanosuke and Miuranosuke to kill you in the plains of Nasu. Your legend is extended further in an addendum written in 1653 titled _Tamamo no Soushi_ that says that after being defeated, you embedded yourself into a stone called the Sessho-Seki, a cursed stone that kept releasing a poisonous gas that killed whatever it touched. The stone was apparently destroyed by a Buddhist monk named Gennou Shinshou during the Nanboku-Chou era, and he exorcised you and held a Buddhist memorial service for you so that you could finally rest in peace."

I turn my neck to face her.

"So, going off that, why is it that you've turned out like this?" I question her. "Because according to historical legend, if that's what the Japanese and I guess humanity in general has established you to be, you should have turned out to be some kind of sinister court lady who's constantly plotting to stab me in the back somehow or something. Instead, you're just a cute foxy shrine maiden who's semi-obsessed with acting as my self-proclaimed wife. Is it that humanity just got your legend wrong? Or is there a side to this that no one knows but yourself?"

Tamamo doesn't look depressed or defensive. Instead, she looks confused.

"...that's...that's my legend in this world...?" she asks hoarsely.

"...wait, what's that supposed to mean," I blurt out without thinking.

"If that's really what my legend is like here, then it doesn't add up exactly with mine," Tamamo whispers sharply, the coy smile torn off her face a long time ago. "Some parts yes, mainly the part about me when I was in Japan. But I don't remember doing any of the things that you say that my legend did before that. You have to believe me, Master...!"

This is intriguing me uncomfortably badly, so giving into my curiosity, I sit up in my bed and reach over to the lamp next to me to turn it on so that we can have a proper conversation. Tamamo also sits up with me.

"So tell me _your_ side of the story," I ask of her. "I like hearing both sides of any story, anyway. What do _you_ remember happening?"

Tamamo, with a difficult expression on her face, lowers her gaze down a bit, dropping eye contact.

"I'm actually the facet of Amaterasu, the sun goddess," she says softly, still unable to remake eye contact with me. "While still existing as her avatar, I became curious about our worshipers, since their lives seemed so much more interesting than mine. At first, when I first started learning about humans, I didn't understand why they would choose to put their faith in a deity that they had no idea what it looked like or even if it existed at all, and my initial reaction was to tell them off about how they felt so weak that they needed to turn to what was essentially an abstract concept to them for guidance and assistance, but the more I watched them, the more intrigued and fascinated I got. I remember wanting to figure out how it could be that humans could so readily endure in spite of all the hardships that they'd go through, and wanting to experience for myself all the emotions that they would have in those situations. I basically wanted to know what it meant to show love despite the difficulties that people would go through prior.

"So I eventually decided to let go of my divinity and reincarnate as a human girl in Izumo Province, in what's now Shimane Prefecture in modern Japan. But when I reincarnated, at the time I'd forgotten what my real identity was, so I went by the name of Mizukume as a child. When I turned eighteen, I began to serve in Emperor Toba's court, because he fell in love with me at first sight, and I adopted the name that I use now, Tamamo-no-Mae. And like you said, I was his favorite, until one day I woke up with fox ears...these ears."

I watch as Tamamo slowly reaches up to the fox ears that are drooping slightly, not twitching or moving.

"These...aren't actually fox ears," Caster almost mournfully remarks, lowering her hands back down. "As a matter of fact, I'm...not supposed to be a human kind of fox, either. I'm a jackal."

"A jackal," I repeat, definitely not expecting that curveball.

Tamamo nods, rather shyly, too.

"And in Edo Japan, the thing was, as I found out when I became a Heroic Spirit, jackals aren't native to Japan, so the people there naturally didn't know what a jackal was. The closest thing that they thought I was happened to be a fox - and in Japanese folklore, that equates to me being seen as a nine-tailed fox."

Yikes.

"So when my ears sprouted, I did my best to hide them, since around that exact same time, Emperor Toba fell ill, just like in this world's version of my tale. I was able to hide them for about a month, but then..." Tamamo's eyes grow sharp and dangerous, "...that dirt-sucking maggot of a thaumatologist, Abe-no-Seimei, ratted me out. When Emperor Toba got sick, he was called in to diagnose his sickness, like you said, but he couldn't find an answer himself, and he didn't want to lose favor with the Imperial Court, so he needed to find something else that would explain it, an extenuating circumstance rather than diagnose the source of the problem itself. And he just so _happened_ to see my ears when he was passing by my room one day..."

Tamamo is audibly grinding her teeth at this point.

"And once he saw them, he immediately accused me of being the one who made Emperor Toba fall sick, and because I happened to be Emperor Toba's favorite courtesan, the people in the court immediately jumped to the conclusion that I must be the cause, since there must have been a reason why I became his favorite, and the other courtesans and other members of the court were _always_ looking for ways to score brownie points with the Emperor, so this was just an all-too convenient opportunity to both get rid of me and take my spot as the Emperor's favorite. So I had to run away with dogs chasing after me, and like you said, I ran away to the fields of Nasu, where other foxes found me. They told me things like 'you've come a long way' and 'what a rough journey you've had'..."

She slowly raises her left hand to grip her right elbow, and she continues to speak like this.

"Remember how I said that I reincarnated because I wanted to feel and experience the emotions of humans firsthand? Well, that...wasn't quite how I wanted that to go. Because when I reached those fields, when those foxes came out to greet me, what I wanted was for them to sympathize or empathize with me and what I was going through, to know what I was feeling. But they were only foxes - they don't know things like emotions, so it was impossible for them to do anything like that. It was at that point when I realized just who I was exactly, and I felt like such an idiot. I reincarnated as a human for the sake of experiencing what it felt like learning to love after going through hardships, but...again, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I wanted to help humanity prosper, but instead I got betrayed and hunted like game just because I happened to look like a fox.

"An army of eighty thousand soldiers found me at those fields, sent by none other than Emperor Toba himself, once that maggot of a human being Abe-no-Seimei told him about my 'true identity'. I tried to apologize to them and explain myself, but no one wanted to listen. All they did was yell things like 'fucking fox demon!' and 'kill the fox bitch!' and eventually they charged at me to kill me. By that time, I'd gotten so fed up with their ignorance and unwillingness to listen that I matched their anger in kind, and I killed everyone they sent at me, and I forced them to retreat for that day. But they came back, and since they saw that they couldn't challenge me in a head-on fight, they kept their distance and shot arrows at me instead. The previous night after I killed all those soldiers calmed me down, and I really regretted killing them all; after all, like I said, I just wanted to help people, and killing more people wouldn't exactly help my case. So I just stood out there while the arrows rained down on me. I tried again to tell them that I didn't mean anything that had happened, that I wasn't trying to fool anyone or trick anyone and that I'd just leave the area, perhaps even the country. But they didn't listen still, and finally I was shot with an enchanted arrow that killed me."

She falls silent, and given the nature of her words, I feel that it's best if I also stay silent and let her dictate the pace of the conversation for now. Eventually after about a minute, she picks it back up on her own.

"The addendum you mentioned..." she murmurs, "...the part where you said that my spirit embedded itself into a stone...rather than that, my corpse became that stone, the Sesshou-Seki. It spawned a cursed poison that killed anyone nearby, like you also said, until Gennou-Shinshou showed up, who didn't give me that memorial service that you said he did. Instead, he broke the stone and scattered the fragments in three places throughout Japan."

We let another long and tense pause go through.

"...that's it," Tamamo mumbles eventually, still not making eye contact with me. Perhaps it's time for me to talk, too.

While it is certainly a tragic story, seeing that I asked about this in the context of first trying to figure out Tamamo's waifu tendencies and then what the differences between this world's legend of Tamamo-no-Mae and her own account are, I stick to the intended subject.

"So about your whole thing about being a wife, how does that relate?" I ask.

"I reincarnated with the desire to try to help people so that I could understand the different kinds of emotions that they felt throughout their lives," Tamamo says. "And no matter what I think about it personally, the most significant time of my life was when I was a courtesan for Emperor Toba. Even if I wasn't exactly a true wife during that time, as a Heroic Spirit, I want to try to be one and do what I couldn't do during my time as a living human."

Finally, Tamamo looks up at me.

"Please understand, Master, that my intentions were to serve humans. If you take nothing else away from my story, at least know that," she implores me quietly. "In hindsight, I recognize that I just...went about the wrong way of doing so. No, not even that...I horribly misunderstood human beings at the time. I thought that there wouldn't be any problems for a deity like me to reincarnate to dwell among her worshipers. But...that's not what they expect, or even want. I was just being selfish...as gods and goddesses are wont to do, I suppose..."

I nod slowly.

"So...are you doing your whole wife thing out of regret or repentance, or just because you genuinely want to?"

"Both, I guess. I don't ever want to have to murder people like I did back then again," Tamamo shakes her head painfully. "I should have just let them kill me and be done with it, but again, hindsight is twenty-twenty, as the saying here goes. But I also do genuinely like serving others, and as a Heroic Spirit and now a Servant, I want to serve my Master with everything I have, whoever my Master may be, and I'm generally not picky when it comes to what kind of Master I'm summoned to. The only thing I ask is that you're ultimately a good person or, at the very least, have good intentions, and I'll be happy with it."

Am I a good person? I'm not quite sure myself. And "having good intentions" can't be applicable to me because I don't really have any ambitions or overarching motivations other than just leading a simple and quiet life...

"Then...hmmm..." I also cross my arms across my chest. "I guess this means that the Servants I'm summoning don't quite match up with how the world sees them. Your legend here in this world doesn't agree with your own retelling of it, and Artoria is originally a guy in this world's Arthurian legend."

"R-Really? Blue Saber-san was a guy in this world's legend?" Tamamo suddenly snaps out of her gripping melancholy like she's snapping her hands easily out of a pair of handcuffs. "Wow...you learn something new everyday, huh."

"And why do you call her 'Blue Saber-san'?"

"Oh, uh...well..." Tamamo starts pouting again. Talk about emotional fluctuation. "There, um...happens to be quite a number of Saber Servants I've met who, for whatever reason, happen to share the same face..."

"Share the same face?" I repeat incredulously, as that sounds really...weird.

"As in they all look the same," Caster clarifies. "Artoria-san is 'Blue Saber-san', since she wears blue clothes and armor."

Makes enough sense to me, I guess.

"You'll know if you happen to summon them. Just..." Tamamo quickly crawls over to me, not that there was much distance separating us at all to begin with, and whispers into my ear, "...whatever you do, don't summon Red Saber-san."

I don't know who Red Saber-san is, so I just don't even bother asking.

It's then that I decide to glance over at the clock on the wall above my desk, and I realize that it's already almost two in the morning - we've somehow been talking for over an hour, even though it certainly hasn't felt like we have.

"Ah, we should probably go to sleep..." I mention, reaching over to turn off the lamp again and diving back beneath the covers again, with Tamamo eagerly joining me.

"I'm...I'm sorry that you had to listen to me tell you my sob story, Master," she murmurs in another shy whisper. "I didn't mean to go off on that tangent, since...you didn't ask me for any of that. It's just...I feel a bit strongly about it, so..."

"No, that's fine, no big deal. Just, I will say one thing."

"Hm?"

"Personally, as just an observer going off what you've told me, I wouldn't say you were to blame. For a goddess to reincarnate as a human being, even if it did turn out badly in the end as a result of you having a profound misunderstanding of how humans behave, I wouldn't say that you were being selfish. You were curious, that's all. In your case, you can't be held responsible for selfishness if, before that, that's literally all you knew."

Tamamo doesn't answer for a second, but when she does,

"...but when a human who's acted selfish all their lives gets accused of selfishness, that's a whole different story, isn't it?"

"Naturally. After all, you're trying to compare humans and deities. Like apples and oranges..."

"So in other words, what you're trying to say is that you're making excuses for me."

"I'll admit to being biased towards someone who's declaring herself a wife of a guy who's single and probably should think about marriage at some point, yes."

This causes Tamamo to snort into laughter, and she squeezes herself gently against my right arm and cuddle her face up next to mine.

And this time, I don't try to resist.


	32. Skipping Steps

**A/N:**

 **jnwosu100: IIRC Nasuverse follows its own altered set of historical fact/lore, which should have been apparent when King Arthur is a fifteen-year-old girl there. And given how, in the story summary section, I mention that this isn't exactly a world that strictly follows the Nasuverse canon... (in no small part because I know very little about it)  
**

 **Sir Lenju II: if you'll excuse me making a quick shameless self-plug, I make FGO videos on my Youtube channel TouhouSniper98. I recently made a video about the account that I have, so you can check that out if you're so interested.**

 **Alewar Warinot: by this point I've decided that it's easier if I treat this as less of a game and trying to adhere to gameplay mechanics and more of an actual story; I've already done this with another fic of mine to mixed success. I intended this fic to be one that I would have fun writing and a lot less stress-inducing, and that's how I'll keep it.  
**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Sand pelts my face as it always has. It gets in my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my hair, my ears...but it's fine, I've gotten used to it. I doubt it even physically affects me anyway.

I glance over my left side, where there's a steep drop-off that signifies the edge of a chasm that extends down so far that eventually darkness obscures what resides at the bottom, a chasm that jaggedly scars this barren wasteland like an exposed fault line. I'm not exactly sure why I thought that taking a walk right next to a chasm like this was a good idea, or why I even did it in the first place.

Well, not that this place makes a whole lot of sense to begin with. So what're the chances that anyone in it is any more sensical?

Somewhere in the distance, a loud alarm rings. I haven't heard one of those in a while - a part of me wonders why they've stopped going off as of late. I doubt that they'll completely stop, but it's certainly something to note that they haven't been screaming as much as they have in the past.

I continue to walk along this infinite chasm that leads down to God knows where. Hell? Is Hell down there? I wouldn't doubt it. With how heavy the air here is, how hot it is, and how desolate this place is, if you were to tell me that this were Hell, I wouldn't disagree. But I would say to you that hell is subjective. I've gotten used to this place, so does that make this place Hell? Perhaps to other people, but if we were to agree that Hell is subjective, it wouldn't be for me. Hell is something you hate, something you dread, because the mere thought of it, or threat thereof, should scare the shit out of you.

If you bother to even believe in this kind of stuff to begin with.

Glancing over the edge again, I gaze deeply into the dark abyss. One of these days, I'll find out what's down there. One day, my morbid curiosity'll get the better of me, and I'll jump like a fucking idiot. I have no idea what'll happen if I do, but that's the fun of it. Some may call it suicidal tendencies, exaggerated daredeviling, but I prefer to call it a complete sense of freedom. What's the point of mentally shackling yourself to things like fear, horror, and dread when eventually you and I are going to end up with the same fate, one of the two things that happens to everyone? Not really worth the trouble being preoccupied with things like that, to be honest.

Now, if you were to come in here and call me a fucking edgelord, then that's a different story, one that I wouldn't disagree with. But it's fun being an edgelord sometimes; acting the way you want without giving a damn about what others may or may not think of you is pretty liberating, and to a certain extent, I like it. I just have to make sure I don't act like this out there, but I don't have a problem doing that. I've learned enough social skills by this point that the people I interact with won't be scared away by how much of a razer blade I am.

Reaching up and adjusting the visor of my cap, I glance up at the sky. The sun is shining brightly down through the haze of smog that's rapidly whirling around in the atmosphere like a huge funnel.

There's also another sun that's rapidly enlarging in the sky a little bit to the right.

It's about that time, huh.

* * *

My eyes go _pop_ as they open up and let me know that I'm still lying in bed. Something heavy is lying across my belly, though, and when I glance down, I clearly see what is none other than Tamamo's big bushy tail lazily strewn over my stomach, with the covers flung off. I imagine that over the night, Tamamo cuddled even more with me in her sleep to the point where her tail also wanted in on the action and inadvertently tossed off the blanket, which is now drooping off the left side of the bed.

Tamamo's story has profoundly intrigued me to the point where her retelling of it is vividly fresh on my mind. And as the self-proclaimed history buff that I mentioned I was before, the fact that the Tamamo-no-Mae who's sleeping cuddled with my right arm like a body pillow is not the same as the one whose legend is historically documented. But as much as her story itself is interesting, what fascinates me more is the fact that her story and her legend clearly do _not_ line up, and I really want to know why, as I've implied just now. I kind of had that thought lurking in the back of my head when the Artoria's started showing up, but now that Tamamo has kindly shared with me her own story, it's yanked it up to the forefront, and now I'm keenly focused on that.

A clear discrepancy like this possibly implies that the version of Tamamo's legend was either rewritten after it was first established or that the current version that we have now became the more widely accepted version and eventually the original got lost to the nebula that is mythological historiography. This is probably quite likely, as I wouldn't put it past human beings, especially people of the olden days, to go with myths and legends that make them seem like the victims and that they're the good guys in the end, because fuck whoever's not also a human being. Obviously I generalize when I say that, but I like to think that I know human beings and their tendencies, arrogance be damned.

Another possibility is that Tamamo is just straight-up lying to me through her teeth. Given her legend, I also wouldn't put it past her that she's still the evil fox spirit that her legend makes her out to be and that she's trying to charm me over to her side so that she doesn't seem as evil as she is. This in turn means that there's a very real possibility that there'll come a point when she'll bewitch me too, and make me do things like those kings and emperors did when they were under her influence. While it doesn't seem like she's trying to do anything to me now, maybe that's what she wants me to think, to try to lull me into a sense of security with her that she's just a harmless and cute foxy waifu trying to serve whoever her husband is - in this case, apparently me. But if that were the case, then she'd've already done something with the Holy Grail that's literally sitting behind her on the other nightstand because I just haven't bothered thinking of another place to put it with how busy we've been for the past few days. Or maybe she hasn't yet since it would be too obvious that she was trying to mess with it.

The final implication that I can think of right now is that my Servants' existences are proof that parallel worlds in fact do exist, that there are variations of our world in which people and events have turned out differently. Obviously trying to prove the existence of parallel universes is beyond my skill as mage, and since I'm not really too in tune with the general international magic community, I don't know of anyone else who might be able to. But the mere concept that humans are capable of, the "what-if", means that the existence of parallel universes is possible, as the existences of things like Reality Marbles already signify. Combine this with the knowledge that this is a very abnormal Holy Grail War that's going on right now, and it seems at least somewhat plausible to me that Tamamo and the Artoria's come from worlds in which their legends are exactly what they make them out to be, that rather than from our own world, we're pulling them out of other worlds.

How weird this Holy Grail War's got to be for us to end up summoning Servants who're from _parallel worlds_ is honestly beyond me.

Oh boy, some heavy thinking as soon as I wake up, and I'm already tired of thinking when the day hasn't even begun. My left hand subconsciously lifts itself up and rests on my stomach, as my right hand is currently chained to Tamamo's arms, and forgetting that Tamamo's tail is also currently strewn over my belly, my left hand _pomfs_ onto it, surprising me for a second. It's nice and soft, like the well-groomed fur of a dog or a cat, and since I like petting dogs or cats, despite never having owned one myself, this feeling is very welcome to me. I've also read about the therapeutic effects of petting dogs or cats, and how some doctors have actually prescribed pets to patients suffering from things like depression, but that's besides the point, because the point I'm trying to make here is the fact that Tamamo's tail is _really fucking nice._

I completely lose track of time as I realize that I've already slipped off into the deep end of the tail-touching pool. My desire to own a pet one day that I've kept suppressed seem to be fighting back, so I suppose I'll just blame it on that, but mere blaming isn't enough to make my left hand stop petting this beautiful tail. No, seriously, why is this tail so nice to touch. Is this one of Tamamo's legendary schemes? Set herself up so that her Master or whoever she's trying to enchant somehow ends up petting her tail and they get so sucked into it that they can't stop, and in order to pet her tail more, they'll start having to do what Tamamo says?

 _I guess this is the end of the line, boys. If I never come back, tell Olga to wire the money she owes me to my bank account or else I'll come back as a Servant and extort that money from her the hard way -_

 **This tail. This tail.** ** **This tail. This tail.**** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.** **This tail. This tail.**

 _ **THIS FUCKING TAIL -**  
_

"Funya...? Master?" Tamamo sleepily chirps, having stirred and finally woken up, now rubbing her eyes.

Dear diary, today I learned that you can pet a tail hard enough to wake up whoever it belongs to...

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" I murmur over to her, since I elect not to try to hide the fact that I was fondling her tail in a way that probably would have raised some eyebrows. I know it would have raised mine.

"Nnn...well, I...I thought someone was touching my tail..." Tamamo stretches out her arms, her hands bumping against the wooden bedrest.

"I was, yeah. I hope you don't mind."

"Er, well, I don't, but..." Tamamo looks a little uncertain.

"But what? You don't like it?"

"Well, no, it's not that I don't like it - I actually like it a lot, in fact..." Tamamo then looks more concerned than uncertain, though how differentiating those two expressions is possible is beyond me. "It's just that...for some reason, many of the Masters I've served with...really like touching my tail..."

"Have any of them been able to explain to you why?"

"Not...particularly? I just never questioned it, I just figured they liked doing it, and if they like doing it, and I don't have a particular problem with it, well, I didn't try to stop them..."

I resume stroking her tail. "Well, not sure about the others before me, obviously, but for me, it's a calming feeling, I guess."

"Calming?"

"Yeah. There _are_ medical studies out there that hypothesize that like, petting dogs and cats or other pets has a therapeutic effect. It seems to be true for me..."

Now that Tamamo's let go of my right arm after waking, I pull my other hand up and start stroking her tail with both hands now, gently running them up my chest against the tail, as that's the way the fur is parted.

"...but I'm a fox though..." Tamamo purses her lips lightly at me.

"All the better, then."

"You don't mind?"

"Mind what?"

"That...I have a fox tail?"

"...what difference does that make?"

"Well...it's...more common to have dogs or cats in this era as pets, no...?"

"True. But I ain't never seen a dog or a cat with a tail this big 'n fluffy." I smile big 'n wide as I pull Tamamo's tail up further my chest so that it's like a body pillow of my own. It's certainly almost big enough to be one.

Tamamo just starts giggling. "I didn't think that I'd ever come across a Master who gave an explanation for why he liked touching my tail so much," she remarks with great amusement.

"There's not much to it, I just like doing it," I shrug, running my fingers like combs through her tail's fur methodically and rhythmically. "I actually _would_ like to own a dog or a cat one day as a pet, but..."

Tamamo pulls up closer to me again like she did when we went to sleep. "But...?"

"Nah, it's just...as a mage, I've always had that feeling that something could happen where I might die or something might happen to me where I wouldn't be able to return home for a long time, so I wouldn't be able to take care of any pets," I sigh. "And since I live by myself, I can't really ask anyone to look after them for me if something _does_ happen to me."

After a brief pause, Tamamo murmurs, "You must like animals in general, huh, Master."

"Yeah, probably, I don't have a problem with 'em. If they're the kind I can pet like this, that's all the better."

I turn my head over to her.

"Do you feel anything at all when I do this? Or have you just gotten so used to people touching your tail like this that you just don't care anymore?"

"It's...aha...more of the latter, yes," Tamamo admits, giving me a sheepish smile, more out of self-deprecation than of embarrassment. "But, that being said, I still like it. And..." Her smile starts becoming legitimately shy, "...you...you seem like you have a lot of experience petting..."

"I have, uh, more experience petting dogs 'n cats as someone who's never owned a pet in his life than I care to admit, yeah."

"Like Lily-chan?" Tamamo leers at me with foxy eyes, and her fox ears (I guess jackal ears, technically, but it's easier calling them fox ears) snap forward, eager to pick up on a scoop.

"Ah, yeah. I used to go around petting other people's dogs 'n cats at the park or something a lot more when I was younger; now, not so much. _Especially_ now, now that I've got this to fill all my petting needs..." I give Tamamo's _floooooofy_ tail a few pats, but I quickly snap my gaze back to her again. "Oh, by the way, I didn't ask you this before we went to sleep 'cause it was late, but you didn't like, enchant your tail or anything, right? To make me get all obsessed over it?"

"Eh? But...but why would I do that?" Tamamo looks genuinely confused, almost in disbelief that I'd even suggest something like that.

"Well, I mean, in your legend - well, _the world's_ version of it, you enchanted a lot of people back in your day - "

" _But I already explained to you that I did no such thing...!"_

She's certainly backing up her notion that she feels pretty strongly about her past.

"Well, okay, hear me out, hear me out," I say quickly but calmly, knowing that I need to do damage control. "So before you woke up, I was kinda thinkin' about what you told me before we went to sleep, and what that meant, I guess in general. So one of the things I concluded was that there's a possibility that what you're doing is to lull me into a sense of security around you, and then you backstab me when I least expect it, or something."

At this, Tamamo's expression turns the sourest and angriest I've seen it yet, and to make things worse, her tail itself grows stiff and tense - I can feel the muscles beneath the fur harden against my chest. I've legitimately pissed her off - yeah, great damage control there, buddy.

"I would never do that to my Master. Only in very rare cases when I know that my Master is beyond even my patience, which is, in itself, very hard to outlast, but you are, so far, not yet one of them," she hisses lethally, and I immediately notice that the pupils in her mellow golden/auburn eyes have already sharpened into fox slits, but almost as soon as her anger is invoked, she drops her gaze, and like pressure being slowly and safely released from a soda bottle, Caster relinquishes the anger she feels. "...but I suppose if my legend is how you have learned it, that isn't an unreasonable conclusion to come to."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I quickly apologize. "I, uh...tend to be pretty blunt when it comes to talking about things, and I end up saying bad stuff at the wrong times sometimes. It's a problem I've always had, and even though I've been tryin' to fix it, sometimes I'll just say whatever and...well..." I look past Tamamo and spy the Grail that's still sitting pretty on its little nightstand. "And I kinda figured you're telling the truth, 'cause you haven't touched the Grail at all when you could've easily taken it for yourself at any point ever since we summoned you."

Sighing quietly through her nose, Tamamo leans her face in and rests her forehead against my right shoulder.

"Master, please know this," she mumbles, almost imploringly. "I don't want anything from the Grail, I really don't. Even if the Grails in this war are different than the ones we're used to fighting for and killing each other over, I've been through enough to get to the point where I just...don't care for it, because nothing good ever comes from it. So I refuse to use it for anything - which means that, if I were the Tamamo that this world's legend makes me out to be, I would have already pilfered it to make it do my bidding, which clearly I have not. All I want to do is to serve my Master to my fullest extent, and if I seem suspicious to you, I, too, will admit that it becomes harder for me to want to act as your Servant. All I want to do is be the best Servant that I can be, and help my Master achieve whatever his goals and wishes may be. Ultimately, I understand that as your Servant, I cannot change your stance about me or my legend, whichever version it is that you want to believe in, but I don't want...to be part of another fox hunt again, if I can help it."

She's referring to her past, I assume. FeelsBadMan.

By this point, I'm feeling my doubts about Tamamo already bleeding away. Maybe that's exactly what she wants to have happen, to demotivate me to accept her, and then strike when it's the most painful.

...whatever. I'll take that hit. I've taken worse.

I don't really have anything to say to Tamamo after hearing that. Rather, I just don't feel like words are the best response in this situation - nah, I'm just trying to sound more intelligent than I really am. So I'll stick with, I don't know what to say back.

So without really thinking my next course of actions through all the way, I turn over to my right side so that both of us are facing each other, and since Tamamo was already resting her forehead against my right shoulder, I'm able to very conveniently nuzzle the top of Tamamo's head, comfortably in between her fox ears.

Tamamo doesn't say anything at first, even though I somewhat expect her to. She eventually does, though.

"...now you're making me feel like I _have_ bewitched you, Master," Tamamo murmurs, but I can tell that she's trying very hard to hide the happiness that's trying its best to bleed into her voice.

"I'm not an expert, but there might be a chance, yes," I grin, very slightly, not that Tamamo will ever see it. "But for now, I think I'm fine with it. I'll let you know."

Pulling her tail out of my arms, Tamamo makes room for herself to snuggle over and wedge herself into my arms.

"I'm pretty sure we're also skippin' a few steps here," I chuckle.

"Steps to what?"

"A normal, proper relationship...or something like that."

Tamamo chuckles right back. "You expected a normal relationship from a Servant who wants to be your wife the moment she met you?"

"Touche."

Tamamo's hair sure smells nice. Come to think of it, everything about her is perfect; physically speaking, I can't point out a single damn flaw about her. Maybe that's just to be expected of a Heroic Spirit. Either way, I don't mind staying like this for a bit longer.

...until my mind decides that I've had enough mushy shit for today and reminds me that I should _really_ check what time it is.


	33. A Problem with Master

April 26th.

Hurrying down the stairs, I fix my cap properly on my head and reach behind the back of my scalp in order to tighten the strap so that the cap is secure and won't fall off.

" _Ara,_ Master? You look like you're going somewhere," Caster greets me, gazing at me with acute intrigue, as do the rest of the girls in the living room. It looks like the girls are watching an episode of Fruits Basket in this early afternoon, as the sunlight pours in through the living room glass doors.

...wait a minute, how are they watching that? I don't even have Netflix...is Fruits Basket even _on_ Netflix...?

"Aye, I'm goin' for a bit of a run," I explain. I'm wearing running gear - in other words, a plain white tee, a fresh pair of basketball shorts, and the cap on my head, different from my Pulp Fiction cap that I usually go around wearing.

"Run? Run where?" Saber Alter murmurs, but her voice, once demanding and powerful due to her ominous presence, is quite diluted thanks to the equally ominous powers of green tea, Honda Tooru, and soft peach gummy candies.

"Just for exercise and endurance training," I explain further, reaching over Caster's fox ears to pluck up a peach gummy for myself, as I'm quite the big fan of peach-flavored candies and confections myself.

"But, Master, you seemed to be in good physical condition when we battled Alter just the other day..." Artoria asks, puzzled. I simply shrug back.

"I haven't gone running in a while; I'm feeling the itch. I'll be gone for about an hour, maybe two."

"A-An _hour?"_ Caster gawks mightily at me, spinning around immediately on her cushion seat to leap up onto her feet. "Just where do you plan to go, Master? Since, as you're probably very well aware, I still haven't forgotten the incident where you broke your arm fixing that sensor of yours!"

I believe Tamamo is omitting several crucial details there, but whatever. So a compromise immediately pops into mind.

"Wanna come with me?" I ask her.

"Eh? Come with you?"

"Yeah, for a bit 'a running." I shake my arms in the same motion as a runner would while running. How redundant, yes, I know.

"Uhh..." Tamamo's expression glooms over rapidly. "T-Trust me, Master, y-you wouldn't want me as a running partner..."

"Not good at running?"

"Ahaha...yeah, uh...my...my Endurance rank is..."

I tilt my own head at that explicit mention of Endurance.

"...rank?" I repeat after her.

"All Servants have six defined parameters that come with their Saint Graphs," Matthew explains, also having stood up to join us. "And those are Strength, Endurance, Agility, Mana, Luck, and Noble Phantasm."

"Sounds like an RPG to me."

"RPG?" Matthew asks back, doing a similar head tilt as I did.

"Role-playing game, it's a specific genre of game." I turn to Tamamo. "So, uh...what's your rank in Endurance...?"

Tamamo grimaces.

"...E," she mutters, looking away and trying her utmost to make sure she doesn't return eye contact.

"On a scale of...?"

"E to A," Matthew further explains, "with E being the lowest."

"Shit."

"Well, just keep in mind, Senpai, that compared to normal humans, Servant parameters are beyond human capability, so while compared to other Servants her Endurance rank is very low, if you were to directly compare her endurance to that of an average human's, she would still vastly outperform them," Matthew tries to clarify.

I swiftly point at myself.

"I'm just an average human, aren't I? Then you'll be fine," I reason, but only jokingly.

"Um, Lady Tamamo, if you are worried about him, I can go with him if you'd like," Matthew offers, but in the meantime, Tamamo has put on a serious face so that by the time Matthew asks this, she shakes her head.

"Nay, this Tamamo shall go!" she determines, her voice filled with a kind of reinvigorated firmness. "When my husband asks me to go with him, how can I refuse?"

"But...we aren't married, though."

Tamamo sets her finger against my shoulder.

"That's what _you_ think," she says with a combination of sweetness and deviousness, giving me a pleasant yet foxy smile.

I blink back at her. "More importantly, actually, now that I think about it, if you're gonna come with me, you'll probably need some clothes for that, and I don't have anything for you..."

"Oh, if it's only a simple matter of clothes..."

Before me, Tamamo gives herself a quick twirl on her tiptoes, and with a soft but radiant flash of faint violet light, so faint that it would have looked pure white otherwise with a passing glance, Caster's normal miko costume is replaced magically with that of...

"Mikon ~ !" Tamamo puffs out her generous chest proudly, now standing before me in a white gym uniform, one that looks like it came from a prestigious private school or something with that red emblem on her left breast. Take a look at my girlfriend, 'cause she's the only one I got...how does that song go again? It's been a while.

But there's a glaring problem with her uniform as I look down to note the knee-high white socks and white sneakers.

"Sorry, but we're gonna have to do something about your bloomers," I nod down at the black bloomers that're riding so high up that they could easily be mistaken as a bikini or, worse, panties from far away by passersby. "Here, I'll get'cha an extra pair of shorts..."

"Huh? Wait, Master, whyyyy...?!" Tamamo yowls after me as I swiftly run upstairs to fetch her an extra pair of shorts, which I bring down for her, a matching pair with mine, hilariously enough. "Do you not appreciate bloomers, Master? I thought all healthy young men dreamed of having a wife who could rock bloomers as well as I could!"

"While I don't mind them personally, might I remind you that we are _not_ in Japan right now," I tell her with a simple, small smile on my face, the same kind of dry smile that I give my business clients, one of stout professionalism, as close to a professional as I'll ever get. "Bloomers aren't widespread here, so if you go out with them, that'll probably cause a few misunderstandings."

Tamamo pouts intensely the entire time that she very unwillingly pulls the shorts on - hell, she doesn't even bother taking the bloomers off, but I guess that's just for the better - and then some.

"Then, I guess we'll be off. We'll be back in like an hour or two, and if something happens, we'll let'cha know," I tell the girls, quickly extracting my phone to show them before slipping it back into my pocket again - the pockets in these shorts are pretty deep, so I don't have to worry about them slipping out on accident while running.

"Be safe, Master," Lily bids me as she and Artoria, seeing that we're now about to leave, join Matthew at the door to see us off - not surprisingly, Salter hasn't joined them, too busy watching anime, I suppose, though I can't claim to know what kind of a reason someone like Saber Alter would have in watching something like Fruits Basket. I nod, giving them all another quick smile, and I adjust my cap on my head one more time as Tamamo and I head out from the small front porch of the house and out onto the nearby driveway of the townhouse complex, the one that's closest to my front door.

"You should do some warm-up stretches before we go," I advise Caster.

"No need ~ Servants are always ready to engage in battle, so things like warm-up stretches aren't necessary," she explains matter-of-factly. "We can go whenever you'd like, Master ~ "

"Huh, sure then, in that case. We'll just walk outta the complex first, and then we'll get started."

So we head out, since we can take this time as our warm-up of sorts with this little walk. On the way, I ask Tamamo,

"So any particular reason why you changed your mind?"

"Because I figured, I get to be alone with you, Master," Tamamo smiles quite nicely. "Even if at the end of the day I'm not so great at physical activity compared to others. And I'd just like to add that even if Matthew-chan said that compared to normal humans Servant parameters are usually much greater than theirs, that doesn't mean that a human like you who's undergone intense training can't outperform a Servant in any given area."

"Hmm...I did take four years of cross country in high school. Does that count as 'intense training'?"

"Cross country? What's that?"

"It's like...a 'sport'," I say with air quotes. "It's basically glorified running, systemized into a sport of sorts where lots of people come together to a racing course of some kind and run together to see who's the fastest, or somethin' like that. It's not really a sport the same way that baseball or basketball are."

"So you already have lots of experience running, then?"

"I guess you could say that. And I just like running, too, it's my favorite form of exercise, really."

"Huh. Why's that?"

"Because more than really most other sports, I guess, cross country's pretty therapeutic, in my opinion. If you run outdoors in an area like this, a place that has great views, good air, and a nice neighborhood, it really calms you, I think. I can easily take my mind off things when I go running. And it's really easy to do - you don't need anything, all you need is a pair of running shoes and some light clothes and that's it. It's not like tennis where you need to bring along a ton of equipment to play, no, it's just - throw on a t-shirt, some shorts, and some good shoes, and you're set."

"And you mentioned earlier before we left that you intended this to be 'endurance training' before you left for missions..."

"Oh, yeah. Typically if I have an assignment like this that's scheduled so that I have some time before it, I'll prepare for it. You've already seen me do so with us going down to Nelson for some equipment yesterday. It's not much, but at least it's some stuff that I do to prepare."

I glance over at Tamamo.

"So, just gonna ask before we start runnin'," I say as we walk past the little guardhouse at the front of the complex's entrance gates, "would you like the normal route that I take, or the scenic route?"

"Wait, you have actual _routes?"_

"Well, yeah. Not my first time goin' runnin', and I know the area pretty well, so..."

"Then the scenic route, _pu-lee-zu!"_

Puleezu? Oh, 'please'.

* * *

Two and a half hours later, Tamamo and I return home, and I hold my hand over the front door to open it up magically, with a small set of magic runes appearing before the door and my hand as they briefly communicate with each other to let the door know that I've returned.

"Welcome back, Senpai!" Matthew calls, standing up from her seat on the couch in the living room and coming over to greet us as soon as she's heard us trudge back onto the tiny front porch of ours, with Fou close by her feet. But when she sees us, she stops in her tracks. "...Senpai?"

I'm in the midst of setting Tamamo down back on her feet from a piggyback stance, and Caster, looking sadly disgruntled, pouts down at the ground with a slight blush in her cheeks, and her legs are wobbling slightly when she tries to stand on her own.

"Ah, sorry. Tamamo got tired after a while, so I carried her back," I explain with a wave of my hand as Lily and Artoria, concerned by Matthew's tone, also join us to see what's going on while Fou is gazing directly up at Tamamo with concern.

"Uh-oh...you should've called us, we would've come to help," Matthew says, offering an arm to Tamamo to help guide her over to the living room that's nearby, which Caster gladly takes.

"Nah, it wasn't a big deal. But Tamamo's pretty tired, so let's take care of her first."

So while Matthew eases Tamamo back down onto her usual cushion seat on the floor of the living room, I stride downstairs to fetch a fresh water bottle from the case of Arrowhead water bottles from the small basement underneath the living room. Once I deliver the bottle to Tamamo for her to drink, I then swiftly transition to the kitchen to prepare for her a platter of tangerines, a cup with the kettle of green tea that's cooled down to a nice, convenient room temperature, some Honey Oat granola bars, and some Cliff bars from the snack pantry.

"Here you go," I set the platter down onto the top of the glass table for Tamamo to take at her leisure. "I'll be taking a shower in the meantime, but make sure that Tamamo doesn't feel too nauseated, and if she does, take her outside for some fresh air."

Matthew and the girls, excluding Saber Alter, of course, nod back at me, and I leave them to their devices as I head upstairs to take a shower in my room.

I don't profess to know what Servant parameters really mean, as today's the first time I really ever heard about them. Olga may or may not have mentioned them in passing when she explained to me the general gist of Servants and whatnot, something that I admittedly didn't pay attention to due to a combination of lack of personal vested interest and my annoyance at her at the time, but that doesn't say much since I'm annoyed with her incessantly anyway. But back on topic - for a Servant with an Endurance rank of E, again, whatever that means, Tamamo seemed quite athletic.

We'd taken a route that would provide the most number of sights for her. We passed by Meridian Park and continued beyond, where there's a stretch of sidewalk on the street that eventually leads down to Pipper Park, a boardwalk that provides an unobstructed view of the sea. We were lucky today and the clouds have passed over, so the view was as gorgeous as it was ever going to get, and Tamamo certainly seemed quite delighted to see it. We also continued all the way down to Pipper Park and headed into it itself so that I could show her the view, and then another clearer view of a different angle of the sea, distinct from the view that we'd seen previously. We then followed the road all the way down and then took a right, and that particular road is basically just an entire boardwalk of nothing but a seaside view. And to return home, we took a small side street that passes by an intermediate school and leads straight up to the intersection that further leads up to our townhouse complex. Tamamo herself gave out halfway up the road that passes by the school, which is no surprise as the entire road that leads up to the intersection is all uphill, which is brutal for any runner, no matter how experienced. And the fact that this area is notorious for having some pretty steep inclines exacerbates that situation tenfold, to the point where Tamamo couldn't run anymore, since we'd already been running for a good hour and a half before then.

But it was fun. Ever since graduating high school, I'd never gone running with someone else; all the times that I've gone running were just by myself. That's not to say that I felt anything particular about it, because like I said earlier, running is a way to clear my mind, since it demands a ton of concentration and endurance, and when you're tired out of your mind while you're running, all you can really do is focus on running, one step at a time, so there's not much room for stray thought.

But I guess running with someone can actually be pretty fun, especially when you're going around showing them all the different sights and whatnot. I had friends in cross country back in high school with whom I'd do our daily runs, sure, but I don't know, the feeling I had earlier today was distinct from what I'd felt from back then. Maybe it's only because of the fact that I've forgotten what it's like to run with someone because it's been four years since my graduation, and four years is a long time. And definitely the kind of relationship that exists between me and Tamamo isn't one that I had in the past, obviously, so that's probably got something to do with it.

Still, the fact that I found today's run fun at all means a lot to me, the more that I dwell on it. Because before, I didn't really think of my runs as anything special; I was completely neutral to them. Yes, I like running, but more in terms of something that I did as a routine, something I used as a tool more so than a true hobby. Because if it truly were a hobby to me, I would've derived fun from it even before today, before I discovered this small joy of running with someone who's close to me, or as close as someone who's only known me for a handful of days can get.

Injecting new life into an otherwise dull routine...I'll admit that only now, now that I give it some serious thought, do I realize that this is what has been happening. I'm still not exactly entirely comfortable with it, but...I'll start with that, I guess. And I'll see where this all takes me.

* * *

After enjoying a hearty dinner of an assorted homemade Korean barbecue featuring short ribs, beef tongue, chadol, and samgyupsal, I now find myself helping Tamamo dry her tail in my room after she's taken a shower. Even though before now I'd never blow-dried anything other than my own hair (and I haven't even done _that_ in years, either), nevertheless, I'm doing my best blow-drying Tamamo's tail with the hair drier that drones rather noisily even on the lowest setting. It's a very old blow-dryer, one that's been in the house for as long as I remember, and it only works on the lowest setting anyway.

"Y-You're really good at this, Master," Tamamo murmurs suspiciously, not even trying to hide her suspicion as I work on drying the further half of her tail with the blow-dryer. "Are you _sure_ you've never owned pets before...?"

"No, really, I haven't. I don't even know if I'm doing well or not."

"Well, you are."

"Hm, good to know, then."

We spend the next couple of minutes on the floor of the room while I finish drying her tail, since it's a little bit hard to have a conversation with something that sounds like a miniature leaf-blower going off constantly right next to us. Once I'm done with it, I set down the blow dryer so that I can pat down her tail and make sure that the fur is back to how it was before. It's a _big_ tail, so working on drying it in its entirety has certainly taken a while, though I kind of expected that going into this. I just wonder how the hell Tamamo has to deal with drying her tail, but then I figure magic probably takes care of that.

"So how're you feeling?" I ask her, patting her tail to let her know that I'm done, and she turns around to face me.

"Much better now," Tamamo says cheerily, but then her expression quickly mellows as her fox ears fold forward sadly. "...but in all honesty, I should've...stayed at home, yeah..."

"If you feel bad about me having to carry you back home, don't be, it wasn't a big deal, really."

"It's not that. Even though I knew that I wasn't the most fit for intense physical activity, I let my selfish part of me take over because I had an excuse to be alone with you, but then I ended up being a huge burden to you towards the end..." Tamamo purses her lips with a small but visible amount of remorse. "And you didn't _just_ carry me back, you _ran_ all the way back while carrying me! _Uphill_ , too! Aren't you supposed to be super tired right now, Master?!"

I shake my head matter-of-factly. "Not anymore, nope."

 _"Just how hard have you trained like this?!"_

I just shrug. "Consistent running, I guess. I got used to it. Nothing special about it."

 _"Yes, yes, because there's nothing remarkable about carrying a girl on your back while running uphill for half an hour, yes?"_

"I don't see any, no."

Reaching over to me, Tamamo bonks me on the front of my scalp with the bottom of her wrist.

"Alter-san was right about you," she scolds me lightly. "You're the type of Master who always tries to downplay his abilities. At least be more proud about the things you accomplish!"

"That was an accomplishment?" I ask bluntly, making a light grimace of my own. "That's news to me."

Sighing, Tamamo says nothing more. My inner Captain Obvious tells me that she's grown weary of this subject, so I change it for her.

"You look great with your hair down, by the way," I mention to her, beckoning at her hair, which grabs her attention again.

Tamamo has insanely long pink hair. But it's not pure pink - it's like a lighter shade of magenta, or perhaps more accurately a fusion of pink and magenta. Whichever color it is, the length of it is ridiculous - it sprawls behind her on the floor, spooling by itself along the carpet flooring of the master bedroom. Tamamo lifts up a lock of it to inspect it herself.

"Do you like it better if I have my hair down, Master?" she asks coyly, but her tone is uncertain, or at least hard to get a bead on. It's like she's trying to sound seductive but is embarrassed about it at the same time, which comes off as confusing, at least to me, considering that she's someone who's raided my bed on her first night without any hesitation or reservation whatsoever, so why she feels embarrassed about it at all now is rather...odd.

"I do like girls who have long hair with their hair down, yes," I nod, "and even more so on girls who normally have some sort of favorite hairstyle. Like, you, for example, you go around with twintails normally, so seeing you with your hair down is actually pretty nice."

"Then I can have my hair down just for you, Master ~ "

But at this, I frown immediately, a frown that Caster also takes note of quickly, too.

"...or not, I guess?" Tamamo murmurs, looking uncomfortable.

"It's not that I would have a problem with it," I say slowly, trying to put my thoughts into words. "It's just that...the charm of seeing a girl with her hair down when normally they'd have it up in some sort of hairstyle wouldn't be the same if she decided to then have her hair down all the time, I guess. If I'd met you for the first time and you had your hair down back then, then I don't think I would have quite the same problem because that's how I first saw you. Or if at least you changed your hairstyle early on. But since you've rocked the whole twintails thing for a while now, so...seeing you with your hair down is like a treat. So if you start having your hair down from now on, the special extra charm that it has...I guess wouldn't be the same, really."

I glance back up at Tamamo, since I've been speaking down at the floor in my efforts to process my thoughts into words.

"And besides, I don't want you to feel like you need to change your hairstyle because of me," I add on quickly. "Just do whatever you feel like, really."

"But what I feel like doing is what my husband wants me to do," Tamamo tilts her head innocently, which I'm sure she's not doing innocently.

"Then in that case, I want you to do whatever you feel like."

"Eeeehhh..." Caster frowns back at me. "You're loopholing me, aren't you? That's what you doing, right?"

"Maybe."

"Mooouuuu, Master's being indecisive with me..." Tamamo folds her arms and pouts playfully. "I don't like it when my Master is indecisive."

"I'm...sure you don't."

I reach over to the foot of the bed and pick up a comb, and then I scootch around Tamamo so that I can start combing her hair from behind.

"M-Master, you...you really don't need to go _that_ far..." Tamamo shyly says, but by that point I've already gotten started on combing her hair slowly, since, again, I hardly have any experience with combing long hair, but at her protesting, I do stop.

"You sure?" I ask, and when Tamamo nods, I toss the comb back onto the foot of the bed. "Mkay then."

Caster sighs rather heavily. "You're really putting me in a hard spot like this, Master."

"How so?"

"Because, as your wife, _I_ should be the one taking care of you. I just don't feel like I've had the chance to do so yet! You've been doing everything!"

"...that's a problem?"

 _"Yes!_ We've been over this, haven't we?"

I think we have.

"Sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess..." I apologize, scratching the back of my head awkwardly.

"But things like blow-drying my tail and combing my hair, I can't imagine that _those_ were habits of yours before?"

"Yeah, they weren't. But I was just tryin'a help out, since I know that for girls, having to take care of long hair can be a pain sometimes..."

"But I'm a Servant, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Yeah, I know. Can't help myself."

Then, Tamamo starts giggling, her pouty frown quickly melting away.

"This is a new experience for me too, I guess, though. Having a Master who wants to take care of me as much as I want to take of my Master..." Tamamo remarks with a small but beautiful smile. "I really didn't expect to have to ever deal with a problem that involves my Master taking more care of me than the other way around, fufu."

"I fail to see how that's a problem, though."

Tamamo just laughs.


	34. Ahead of Schedule

April 28th.

"It's...it's always this crowded, you say...?"

I glance over at the street beyond the tall black metal fence that sections off this square of the airport's extended parking lot area, reserved for people who need to be away for a period of time and don't mind leaving their cars here for the duration of their trips. Los Angeles International Airport is packed as hell, and you know what that means - annoying traffic, less than cooperative drivers who have compulsive honking disorders, and what I like to call Sore Ass Syndrome, which I shorten to "S.A.S." - not to be confused with the English special forces group, though.

"Oh yeah. Fine day as ever," I smile sarcastically, but you wouldn't be able to tell that I'm being sarcastic just by looking at my face as I shut the door to my car. Matthew is already getting our single piece of luggage out of the car, a lone but huge suitcase that contains enough clothes for all of us for a few days, but truth be told those're really only clothes for me and Matthew, as apparently Servants don't need to care about clothes since magic can clean their clothes or whatever bullshit magic is capable of.

"Th-That traffic was sure something," Tamamo gasps a little, somehow looking haggard as she joins me behind the trunk as Saber Lily presses the button on my white Mercedes' lifted trunk to close it automatically. "Let's never do that again, Master. That was...that was something else."

"You look like you were getting physically suffocated by that," I remark. Everyone's in casual clothes again, and Tamamo, back in her school uniform, wipes her forehead with the back of her hand.

"You don't say! Is traffic like this all the time?!" Tamamo asks in disbelief, indignantly pouting at me.

"I just told you that it was. The only time that it isn't like this is probably late at night, like, really late at night. Two, three-ish? It ain't fun."

"You certainly seem to have encountered this situation many times, Master," Artoria offers a pained smile to me. I guess not even Heroic Spirits or Servants or what have you are immune to the unbearable modern phenomenon that is airport traffic jams.

"Slightly more than I care to admit, because let's face it, I hate them too," I drop my smile in favor of a superbly dissatisfied frown, fully acknowledging my own suppressed antagonism towards airport traffic. "Anyways, let's go. Follow me and try not to lose me, lotta people here."

So we head off - we exit the extended parking lot and join a few other people who have exited the nearby parking structure, the ones that everyone else uses for temporary parking to drop off or pick up family and friends or whoever. We all silently wait for the crosswalk to yield for us, and when it does, we cross over to the other side to the terminals. LAX's arrivals are the lower level while the departures are up above, meaning that technically we're on the wrong level, but having been to this airport many times, I know that the lower levels have elevators and escalators that can take you up top anyway.

"Already told you girls this, but we'll be attracting attention even in plainsclothes," I mutter silently into a transparent rune that's invisible to the ordinary naked human eye, runes that only other mages or magical entities like Servants can see. I've established a simple rune system of communication that's connected all of us together and allows us to speak to each other, so long as we keep our voices down.

"Don't worry about us, Senpai. We've all been to public places together before," Matthew reminds me.

"That's true, but this is on another level. A restaurant like that In-'n-Out place doesn't compare to something like this. This is the largest airport in Southern California, so naturally there's just gonna be a lot more people here."

"You're referring to the unsavory types, aren't you?" Tamamo giggles. "Awww, Master wants to protect us ~ "

"Actually, the people themselves here for the most part are fine. What I was gonna warn you against was the possibility that we might run in other mages here. Even if I have Presence Concealment active for all of us, it's pretty hard concealing all of your signatures and then just walking through a huge public place like this expecting to slip by without anyone noticing..."

"Are there a lot of modern mages like you in this area?" Matthew asks.

"Not sure, but for our own sake, I'm gonna assume that the answer is yes."

"You sound as if there will be a problem if we encounter any," Salter remarks rather coolly.

"Because let's be honest, mages like me tend to be, uh, isolationist, and we don't trust each other for good reason. So knowing that, how do you think they'll react when they figure out that another mage like me's parading around with the five of you, all of whom're Servants?"

"I-I'm only a Demi-Servant..." Matthew shyly corrects me.

"Either way, they're gonna confront us and ask questions. But we'll see. Stay on your toes regardless."

Leading the girls into the first terminal, I locate the nearest escalator, and we take it up to the floor above so that we can find our proper departure terminal for Air France.

"Have there been incidents where you have been attacked out of the blue by other mages, Master?" Lily mutters to me, making eye contact with me nervously out of concern for me, now that I've brought this up.

"Not a lot, but they _have_ happened. It's luck of the draw, I can't really predict when I run into someone who decides to get tough with me 'cause I'm another mage just walking around in broad daylight."

"It would seem that even these so-called 'modern mages' are no different than the mages we know..." Saber Alter scoffs under her breath.

"And you wouldn't be wrong. Though, it's more accurate to say that us modern mages are more, uh...individualistic. If that's even a word."

"Meaning?"

"That we all kinda like to do our own thing. Some of us, like me, like acting like normal people. Having normal jobs, going out like normal people, whatever. Others act in more traditional mage ways, like shutting themselves into their own homes and researching and working on God knows what. You just won't know until you actually meet one in person, I guess."

Once we find the correct terminal, we find ourselves a vacant ticket booth, and Matthew, who's flown before and is familiar with the booth, operates it for our tickets with the flight information that Dr. Roman's provided us while I check in the suitcase with an attendant. Once Matthew's gotten everyone their tickets and the suitcase is checked in, I make another quick check in our party that everyone has their passports, which're just fake copies of my own legitimate passport with everyone else's pictures on them and simple spells that help them look legit. We pass through security and screenings just fine, though I do note silently that the male guards do take _slightly_ longer patting the girls down, but not enough to warrant any strong reaction out of me. As much as I do respect security guards and whatnot for their work, that still isn't enough of a defense for me to put them in the dirt if they step out of line.

To my small surprise, nothing funny happens the entire time that we make our way to our terminals where we await our flights. We make it with a full hour to spare, which is what I would've preferred anyway. And having been constantly on the lookout for other mages in the area but detecting none, I'm a little bit more relaxed and thus not as worried that we have so much time left to kill while we wait for our flight, though I still stay wary.

"Geez, do people have to go through that all the time whenever they just wanna fly?" Tamamo complains, plopping her butt down on an empty chair as we settle into a group of vacant seats near our designated terminal.

"That's airport security for ya," I remark back, checking my phone in the meantime. "We've got an hour to kill, so we can just chill here for that time until it's about time. You all want anything to eat or drink? Lots'a shops and, like, restaurants around here..."

"I saw what appeared to be a hamburger shop as we passed that is nearby. I would like to pay it a visit," Saber Alter immediately informs me. At least she's honest about what she wants.

"Ah, Master ~ " Tamamo slides over to me and presses herself against my right shoulder. "There was ~ this _ring_ store ~ that we passed by ~ Tamamo-chan wonders if she could, you know ~ maybe take a look around in there ~ "

Sasuga Tamamo-san.

I turn to Artoria. "Did you see somewhere that you'd like to eat at?" I ask her, and the moment I ask her this, Saber immediately drops her gaze.

"Th-The restaurant named 'Chick-Fil-A', I-I think its name was..." she mumbles abashedly. "Th-The food, or, rather, the air smelled quite nice when we passed it on our way here..."

"And you?" I turn finally to Matthew, who's cradling Fou, who's in turn curled up on her lap after all this time of walking.

"If possible, I would like to stay with you, Senpai. Just...just in case," she nods firmly at me.

"What about Fou? He gonna be fine?"

"He'll be fine, I'll hold onto him."

So we get up out of our seats almost as soon as we've sat down to explore the area and grab ourselves some food, as we only had a light breakfast to get here with time to spare, as any sensible person would do to get to the airport these days. We also don't have any carry-ons for the sake of convenience, but also due to the promise that Roman made to us last night that accommodations would be provided, but mostly convenience. It's not like the Servants really care about accommodations for the most part, as they only really affect me and Matthew, perhaps.

The Chick-Fil-A joint is nearest, so we visit that first, and I order spicy chicken sandwiches all around, just so that we can all get some food into our systems at least. I do get Saber an extra spicy chicken sandwich, twelve-piece chicken nuggets, and a drink, and we sit her down at a table meant for four people so that she can eat.

"I'll stay with Lady Artoria," Matthew offers, sitting down with her and setting Fou down on her lap, who stands up on her thighs to peek over the small table and sniff in the direction of her spicy chicken sandwich.

"As will I," Lily says as well, about to dig into her own sandwich.

"Okay. If there's any trouble, let us know," I nod at the two of them, and we depart them to head over to the Carl's Jr., the hamburger joint that Salter was referring to. While we head over, I glance over at her and notice that she's in the middle of taking a huge bite into the center of her chicken sandwich.

"Alter-san is quite proficient at eating," Tamamo comments, sprinkling her tone with just the lightest of condescension. "Is that how you're able to produce so much mana?"

"My mana comes elsewhere. As I have made clear, I simply possess an appreciation for fine food," Salter returns matter-of-factly.

Fine food, you say.

"I would have thought that a fox deity like yourself would have known that, but perhaps all your kind can do is be clever but not intelligent," she continues.

"Ex- _cuse_ me, I am a _jackal_ , not a _fox_ ," Tamamo reacts quite strongly to this.

"Aye, because a jackal is just a bigger fox, yes."

Tamamo scoffs instead. "Yes indeed! And you know what _else_ is bigger!" She taps those two generous mana tanks of hers on the bosom quite proudly, which causes Salter to just snort in response and continue chomping on her sandwich as we head into the Carl's Jr, where I order for Alter a Double Western Bacon cheeseburger, which is my favorite burger to get there, but given what I know of her tastes, I feel like she'll like that the most. Who needs veggies, anyway? The King of Britain certainly doesn't. You, too, can be just like the King of Britain. Don't eat your veggies.

"I am aware that you intend to take Caster to another store, so you may leave me be here. I will regroup with the other when I am done," Salter tells me as she begins to seat herself at an empty solo table of her own with tray of food - two cheeseburgers instead of one, due to Salter's effective use of negotiation skills (which she has none of unless you count raw threats), fresh-cut fries, and an extra-large drink filled to the brim with Coke.

"You can go over to them right now, actually. You can bring food in and out of places, since this's an airport and no one really cares," I tell her instead.

"Is that so? Then I will save myself the trouble now."

So we walk her over to the Chick-Fil-A so that she can sit with the others, and Tamamo and I head off to the engagement ring store.

"You aren't gonna eat your sandwich?" I ask Tamamo on the way, pointing briefly at the sandwich that she's still holding onto.

"No, because I wanted to eat it with you, Master ~ " she reasons rather cutely.

"Ah, I see." I glance down at my own sandwich that I haven't opened yet. "Then let me hold onto that for you so you can look around more easily."

She hands me her sandwich, just in time before we step foot into the ring store. Kay, I think it is. The employees behind the counter nod us their welcomes, which I return with one of my own and a smile, while Tamamo takes her time cheerfully looking around at the rings.

While she's taking a look around, I pull out my phone and start checking my email. Even though it's a Friday and I did tell my business partners that I'd be out of town, there're still quite a few emails for me to take a look at, so I go through whatever ones that I can now that don't really require too much attention, like random emails from different port terminals, occasional advertisements from other trucking or logistics companies that basically mean that they're looking for more work, and emails from my various business partners that simply say "Well noted" or something to that extent, emails that I only need to take one glance at and never have to look at again. The others that I do need to spend more time on I leave alone, as I'd rather have both hands to text email responses rather than just one. Since I don't really text a lot and the first smartphone I ever got was after I graduated high school, I'm not the most tech-savvy with smartphones and I certainly don't know how to text one-handed like some of the young'uns out there who text constantly in class. I saw a fair bit of them back in my day too, when smartphones were in their first few years of widespread popularity and use.

I figure now's a good time to send Roman an email to check with him that our "accommodations", whatever they are, are ready for us when we arrive. He wasn't very specific about our "accommodations", just that we'd like them when we came. Normally, outside of this kind of context, that'd be a big fucking red flag that something isn't right, but at least I can put a little bit of trust in him to not screw with us; as much as Olga likes to screw with my contract, Chaldea itself is trustworthy and Roman and Da Vinci look out for their employees, even if Olga herself doesn't always. At least so far.

"Ma - oh, I mean, August!" Tamamo corrects herself midway, remembering that calling me "Master" in public is probably not recommended. "Look, look, what about this one? It looks cute, doesn't it?"

I never thought that I'd hear anyone call a ring "cute", but I oblige her and head over to one of the glass cases to inspect the ring that she's talking about. I have no knowledge of rings or the like, so I just shrug and say, "Yeah, it looks good."

Tamamo seems to sniff this out and pouts at me. "You don't actually mean that, do you?" she accuses me.

"Mainly because I don't know anything about rings."

"But you can see if they might look good on me, right?"

"Well, any one 'a these would look good on you, so..."

Caster keeps pouting at me for exactly three seconds. Then, it clicks in her head.

"Awww, August, you shooooouuuldn't ~ " she squeals lightly, glomping me out of the blue and rubbing her face next to mine. I give the employees an awkward smile as I excuse the two of us and head outside so that we don't have to put those people in an awkward spot with Tamamo's flirting. We make our way back to the Chick-Fil-A, but Tamamo tugs me in the direction of the seats that we'd claimed just before giving them up again in favor of grabbing food.

"I wanna eat together, just the two of us," Tamamo mumbles to me.

"But we should eat with everyone else."

"We've _been_ eating together with everyone else for the past week, and we'll all probably be together for the entirety of this upcoming Singularity anyway. This's the only chance we've got where we'll be alone together, don't you see?"

While she has a fair point, it's not like we're going into this expecting to die or anything. Though that could easily happen. So I oblige her again, and we sit down and I hand her her spicy chicken sandwich for us to eat together.

"How is it? Not too spicy?" I ask her.

Tamamo just laughs at me. "This? Spicy? Oh, c'mon," she giggles, her jackal fangs showing as she munches. "I like spicy food, but this isn't what I'd call spicy."

"Not spicy enough, huh..."

"Do _you_ like spicy stuff, Master?"

"Enough. Spiciness gives more flavor, but too much and I won't be able to concentrate on the flavor, y'know?"

"Maybe next time we go out and eat, you can treat us to some spicy food."

"Hm, I know a Korean place that serves soondubu, and you can adjust the spiciness, and it's pretty good."

"What's soondubu?"

"It's a Korean tofu soup dish. Like, ye big," I indicate its size with my hands after setting down my sandwich on my lap, the size of a small plate. "You cook it with other ingredients, but obviously tofu is the main one. Most of the time it's cooked with seafood, like clams, oysters, and shrimp."

"Oooh..." Tamamo's eyes light up at this description; she's definitely interested.

"You like seafood?"

Tamamo nods strongly and enthusiastically. "I _love_ seafood! Oh, and we should go out for sushi, too ~ "

I frown slightly, and she notices this.

"...you don't like sushi, huh..." she concludes a bit sadly, and her fox ears (jackal?) fold forward in kind.

"Not...not really, sorry. I'm not good with raw fish," I shake my head. "But I've been to sushi places before that serve other stuff, like sushi without raw fish, like the egg sushi or whatever they're called, and I like those. But it's like...if you go to a sushi place, you should probably eat sushi, so if you eat anything else, what's the point of even going there in the first place..."

"But if we all go together, then we can eat sushi while you get other things," Tamamo reasons.

"I guess so. But didn't you say that you'd rather have only the two of us go?"

"Th-That's only for _now!_ But that'd be nice too," Tamamo blushes a little.

We finish the rest of our sandwiches in silence, and once Tamamo is done with hers, she asks,

"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but you aren't nervous about this next Singularity, are you?" she asks quietly. "I wasn't there for the first one, so I don't know how you are in high-pressure situations..."

"No, I'm not nervous. I've been through a fair amount of these things myself, so I wouldn't call myself inexperienced," I shake my head. "If I had to be worried about anything, it'd be about you girls."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about us," Tamamo returns in kind. "Even if one of us falls in battle, you can still rely on the others. _You're_ the one we need to worry about, but...we've told you that dozens of times already."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"We're just worried about you, that's all...!" Caster pouts again, with a touch of genuine irritation. "Not only did you return home that one night with an arm broken the other way, but the others told me about how you protected Lily-chan by sacrificing your arm! I know people like you, Master, you'd throw yourself in front of one of us to protect us from a Noble Phantasm if you could!"

"I plead the Fifth."

"Huh?"

"I don't deny that."

"Exactly! But at least you know it yourself," Tamamo folds her arms across her chest, but due to the size of her chest, she ends up simply holding her arms underneath her breasts, which ends up accentuating them even more.

"What I _am_ worried about is what we're gonna do when we get there," I sigh slightly. "Matthew said that she can speak French, but the Artoria's can't, and neither can the two of us. So basically we really can't go anywhere without her unless we get some sorta translation rune, which I can't make since I don't know French..."

"But since it's gonna be a Singularity, from what we know of the first one, there might be Servants there who'll show up who know English and can communicate with us," Tamamo points out.

"But that's not a guarantee. We only have Salter to go off of, and she's only one Servant. Plus, she's English anyway," I shrug widely. "In a sense, this next Singularity's gonna be our first serious one. The first one where we picked up Salter was kinda like a test run, I guess, conveniently enough. Roman said that this one's gonna be big, so this's gonna be more serious."

Caster gazes at me with concern. "So you really _are_ nervous about this," she determines.

"I suppose in terms of what we need to do and what our objectives will be once the Singularity itself hits," I nod. "Not really worried about our own safety, that's just a given. And I'm the type 'a guy who would much rather go into a situation as informed and prepared as possible. I'm a logistics guy, after all, I kinda like knowing these kinds'a things."

The loudspeaker over us comes on, and the flight attendant lady speaking into it begins announcing that our flight is beginning to board, which catches not only us but a lot of other people sitting around us by surprise as well.

"Oh, looks like they're boarding us early," I remark, not attempting to hide my surprise as I check my phone's clock. "Ten minutes ahead of when they'd usually announce us..."

"Why, does that not usually happen?"

"Not really, but I guess things are a bit ahead of schedule on the airplane's end. Everyone, our flight's boarding, regroup with us," I mutter into my comms rune.

 _"Yes, we are on our way,"_ Artoria replies swiftly, the sound of their trash being properly discarded in the trash cabinets as they hurry over to us so that we can board our flight to head to France.


	35. Hard Landing

_"...ster! Master! MASTER! ! !"_

I snap open my eyes. Evidently, I'm falling through the sky. I didn't even do anything yet, I was just sleeping...

Groaning, since I really don't like to be woken up in the middle of a nap, I squint around, but I can't see that well because...my glasses aren't on my face. The fuck are my glasses?

"Here, Master! I've got your glasses!" Caster screams over to me in freefall, and when I turn around as best I can in midair to turn to her, Tamamo swoops in and grasps me tightly, practically slapping the glasses back onto my face. I then push it up by the bridge, which doubles as a way to secure the glasses onto my face so that it doesn't fall off again with the help of some tiny runes.

Now armed with my glasses, I can now see clearly, and as if it wasn't obvious enough by now, we're are freefalling down through the sky, and the country of France is sprawling beneath us, looming closer and closer as the precious seconds pass. Artoria, Lily, Salter, and Matthew, clutching Fou along with her cross-shield as tightly as she can, are nearby, and it seems that Caster has left them to their own devices to secure me.

"The fuck's goin' on? Someone do somethin' to the plane?!" I yell to Caster, as communications is rather tough even with my comms runes with all the rushing and whipping of the air whooshing in our ears.

"I don't know, it just disappeared! But the air - !" Tamamo yells back as she prepares some magical talismans with some difficulty due to our freefalls. "There's definitely something off about it! The Singularity's gone active while we were entering French airspace!"

How does Tamamo know terms like airspace? I'll just assume it's because of the whole summoning thing. Either way, it looks like we're gonna have to get to work earlier than usual. Glancing over at Matthew, I can see her yelling into the projection hologram that lets us communicate with Chaldea, and it seems like our connection to them is just fine. The expression on her face right now though can only be described as nothing less than terrified.

"Master, hold on tight! I'm gonna slow our descent!" Tamamo calls to me as the talismans in her hand in between her fingers begin to glow, but I'm not one to sit back and let everyone else around me get work done for me, so instead I wrap my left arm around Tamamo's back and press her against me instead.

"Nah, the faster we get down there the better," I counter, completely disregarding Tamamo's advice. I also glance straight down, and we won't hit land, since we're still far out at sea, but we are near what appears to be the northern peninsula; I studied the map of France before coming here, and if I recall correctly, that's the islands of Jersey and Guernsey almost directly beneath us. We'll probably still hit water, though. "You guys! Are you all gonna be fine with the landing?"

"We Servants can walk on water!" Artoria hollers back. "Do not worry about us! But what about you, Master?"

"See you on the water, then!"

"Huh?!"

Two blue strips of magic lines etch themselves beneath my feet, and as my concentration intensifies, I become less aware of how tightly I keep Tamamo close, to the point where I barely notice that her face is hard-pressed against mine. I lock my feet against them, and as if I'm playing Kirby's Air-Ride in real life, I fling myself straight down with a screaming Tamamo in tow, the aerial magic circuits that I'm directly etching into the air beneath my feet catapulting me downwards.

 **"M-Masteeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr! ! !"** Tamamo is straight _screeching_ in my ear. **"S-Stop, stop, stop, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeee! ! ! ! !"**

I guess Tamamo doesn't like going fast.

So I slowly begin to curve our descent, directing the continuous trail of magic circuits to my left in a counterclockwise direction so that we eventually follow a funnel trail all the way down to the water, so that way, I bleed off speed down to more "manageable" levels, or in other words to levels that don't involve Tamamo screaming in my fucking ear.

"I could have done this too, Master!" Tamamo whines quite angrily. "Didn't we talk about this before we left?!"

"We talked about me not getting into dangerous situations, yes!"

 _"THIS ISN'T A DANGEROUS SITUATION TO YOU!?"_

"Compared to a lot of things that I've seen and done, not really, no!"

I've also made sure to descend at a rate that allows the others above us to catch up, so to speak, and that we can all land on the water roughly at the same time, and a few seconds after Tamamo and I slide cleanly onto the surface of the sea, Lily, Salter, Artoria, Matthew, and Fou all crash straight onto the water with each of their own gigantic splashes that, put together, looks like a warship just test-fired a cannon shell just off the coast.

"We're feet wet! Everyone sound off!" I yell even as the water that's kicked up still splashes back down as Tamamo and I hurry over to the rest of the girls, sprinting over to them across the surface of the sea, but as the water subsides from the air, I see the silhouettes of the girls drip off, revealing the others, and a cursory first glance indicates that they're all fine.

"We're fine, we're fine!" Matthew coughs, pulling herself up with the help of her shield - it seems like her body doesn't agree with the sheer impact of the landing, despite her power as a Demi-Servant, while the Artoria's seem completely fine. Seeing her hack and cough makes me wish that I had the foresight to take her along with me too - I thought she'd be fine since she's supposed to be a Demi-Servant, but clearly she doesn't exactly have the same powers as one. Duly noted.

Immediately approaching my self-proclaimed underclassman, I place my left hand on her soft, pale belly to help prop her up and raise my right hand.

"Gonna mana transfer to help stabilize," I tell her, focusing my mana into my right hand, which begins to brim with a blue haze that slowly begins to solidify in color saturation. "Tell me when you're ready."

"I'm ready," Matthew nods.

On her cue, I place my right hand against the center of her back, on the back of her uniform, making sure that I'm aligned with her spine. The human central nervous system is a very efficient delivery system, and it's very conveniently tied to the magic circuits within a magical body; they're not the same, per se, but they interact very closely with each other, so this mana transfer method that I'm about to perform hinges on that fact. Because otherwise, this is an extremely inefficient mana transfer method; you need an immense amount of mana in order to do this.

"You're gonna feel a big thump. It shouldn't hurt, but it might take you by surprise," I warn her. "Exhale and don't breathe until it's done, it'll be over as soon as it starts."

Matthew does as I instruct her, and once I feel most of the air exit her lungs, I release the mana from my hand. Just as I'd described, a loud but muffled _thump_ blasts from my hand, and I hold Matthew in place with my left hand on her stomach to counteract the recoil, shaking my other hand as if to shake the residual mana off.

"Thank you, I feel - " Matthew coughs a few times, but she finishes, " - much better. I'm good to go now."

"What is our location now?" Saber Alter asks, demandingly as always, but sounding noticeably sharper too. Everyone is in their battle gear now, but you probably didn't need me to tell you that.

"These are the Channel Islands behind us," I inform the party, pointing off into the distance at the islands behind us, which the girls also turn around to take a look at. "Which means we're in northern France. That should be the mainland." I point in the opposite direction towards the coast. "For now, let's head to the coast. Matthew, get Roman on and let me talk to him."

So we get started heading over to the coast while Matthew reconnects us to Chaldea, and Roman promptly appears before on his usual hologram screen.

 _"Guys! Oh, looks like you all landed just fine, thank goodness,"_ Roman sighs with relief. _"August, I need to fill you in, is now a good time?"_

"We need to haul ass over to the coast 'cause we just para-dropped or whatever right into the middle of the fucking bay here, so yeah, I'd say so."

 _"Er, alright, then. So the Singularity just went active while you were flying into the country."_

"Yeah, Tamamo told me that much."

 _"No, you don't understand, this Singularity is - it's insane! It's frozen the_ whole world!"

Cool.

"Define 'the whole world'," I reply back, not really reacting to Roman's own reactions.

 _"As far as we can tell, this current Singularity's locked down the regular time flow of the real world, similar to how the first Singularity established its own flow of time,"_ Roman clarifies. _"But this time, it's a country-wide Reality Marble!"_

So many questions. But the first one...

"You said first 'the whole world', and now you're saying it's country-wide. Which one is it?"

 _"Uh, sorry, just country, it's covered all of France!"_

"Then it's _not_ worldwide."

 _"Sorry, sorry, my bad, I was just freaking out a little - "_

"Then you guys over there aren't affected, right?" I ask him, thinking of the Alps along southern Switzerland, where the Chaldea main facility is located somewhere. "You _should_ be out of range, but - "

 _"Oh, you don't have to worry about that,"_ a prideful yet silky smooth Italian female voice barges in, and almost in a similar vein, Da Vinci shows up and practically shoves Roman out of the way. _"We're out of range and not affected. Even if we were, I've studied the Singularity using the data that Matthew's sent over, and I've made anti-Singularity defenses so that Chaldea is immune to the Singularity's emergence. As long as none of us step foot outside of the Chaldea facility, we can remain in contact with you."_

"You did all that just off data that Matthew sent over?"

 _"Well, naturally! I'm a genius, after all!"_ Da Vinci smiles with the most self-assured confidence I've ever seen in a person, but knowing her, it suits her quite well. Da Vinci might be full of herself and at times has her head up her own ass, but it's rather difficult to actually get angry at her for it, mainly because everyone knows that she's working to help everyone else.

"Impressive. Now what's our sitrep? What can you tell us that we should know right now?"

 _"Well, that's the problem, Roman has already told you everything important that you should know."_

"What, just that the whole country's on lockdown? So in other words, we're cut off until we resolve this Singularity?"

 _"It appears so."_

"Then why is this Singularity so massive compared to the previous one? That's a bit of a big jump, don't'cha think? Goin' from just a few neighborhood blocks to suddenly the whole country of France?"

 _"As much of a genius as I am, I can't answer that without data to work with. Remember, this is only the third Singularity in total that we've dealt with so far, and we can't even use the previous one for accurate comparison just because the scales are so different. You're going to have to get us the data that I'll need to answer that for you."_

"Fair enough. Last question, if this Singularity's affecting the entire country, then what about the mages who live here? Won't this mean that they'll know what's up and they'll be trying to figure out what the fuck's going on too?"

 _"That's where - "_ Roman pulls himself back into the frame of the hologram screen to share it with Da Vinci, _"That's what we don't get either, August. We don't detect any magical movement at all in the country, nothing but magical silence. You're the only ones that we can detect. It's almost as if the magical signatures in that Singularity are entirely foreign to our systems, that's how much this Singularity's screwing with them."  
_

I frown deeply. It's a double-edged sword - while we don't have to worry about the French magic community getting in our way, at the same time that's potentially valuable help denied to us, and even though I've dealt with other mages enough to know that it's a royal pain in the ass to try to work with many of them cooperatively, I can safely say that mages _will_ in fact band together to fix a problem that seriously affects _everyone._ So for the foreseeable future, it seems like we're on our own.

"Nothing else for now?" I confirm with the two of them.

 _"Nope, that's all. We're using your signatures to scan your immediate vicinity but that's all we can do. If we find anything, we'll let you know,"_ Roman nods as Da Vinci waves goodbye at us and slinks out of screen, and Matthew promptly shuts off the hologram.

"W-What should we do, Master...?" Lily asks timidly, watching me as I pull on my black fingerless gloves that act solely as an edgy personal fashion statement and serve no actual tactical purpose.

"Get to shore first and see what's happening," I say initially, processing both the little information fed to us by our Chaldea contacts and our next course of actions as soon as we hit land. I glance around the environment; right now, it just looks like a perfectly ordinary day, cheerfully sunny with a few clouds to paint the canvas of blue sky. It would be a gorgeous day if it weren't for the fact that we just got dropped out of the fucking sky from over nine thousand feet in the air or however high we were. Sure as hell wasn't the Mile High Club that I had in mind. "I'm gonna go off what we know from the previous Singularity where we ran into Salter; there's gonna be a Holy Grail, and someone, probably a Servant, is screwin' around with it or something, or guarding it like Salter was. We locate the Grail, beat whoever's holding it hostage, recover it, and extract it from the country so that the Singularity collapses. Where we'll go, I'm not sure..."

"Then we should hurry. Being on the water does us no favors," Artoria suggests.

"Exactly, let's book it. You don't need me to carry you again, do you?" I glance over at Tamamo.

 _"No thank you!_ I'm gonna bite you, Master!"

I don't take her threat seriously, but she does actually jump onto me and sink her fangs into my left shoulder. It hurts a little.

* * *

We eventually reach the coast, an ordinary beach, and move inland. Where there should be coastal towns, there are none. Evidently no one lives near the coast anymore, and we don't see any signs of developed, modern civilization anywhere.

"Looks like no one's in this area, Master," Matthew reports. "Does anyone else detect anything?"

The girls all shake their heads.

"Salter, does this Singularity feel similar to you in any way?" I ask Saber Alter, who simply narrows her eyes back at me.

"Nay. This is just about as foreign to me as it is to the rest of you," she replies coolly. "Why do you ask?"

"Just in case we could derive any more similarities between this Singularity and the one we found you in."

"And how do you think that kind of information would help?"

I shrug back. "Any information is better than no information," I reason as I prepare to deploy my vicinity-scan spell, extending the range of it to its maximum of a kilometer-long radius as we stand on the grass about six hundred meters away from the coast. "Deploying Comsat Scan..."

Raising my right index finger up into the air like it's burning with the power of a thousand stars, I begin to throw out immense pulses of mana, channeled to form waves that rapidly travel in all directions. Because I'm utilizing the maximum range of this magical scan, I can't detect anything more than just simple human signatures, so I won't be able to tell if the people I'm scanning, if my scans even pick up any humans, are magical or normal. Even worse, by performing my scan in this manner, I'm basically announcing our presence in this area because I have to commit to using an intense amount of mana, and any mage worth their salt will know that we're here and prepare for us.

"I can help, Master," Tamamo offers, but I raise a hand at her because my scans are starting to pick up human signatures near their max range, almost directly east. It's a large group of humans, though I don't know any more than that. For all I know, it could just be an ordinary town.

"Humans detected, but I don't know if they're normal or mages," I inform the group. "Let's try to make contact with them and see if we can't figure out what's going on."

"I can send familiars in their direction to scout for us," Tamamo continues to insist, and this time I take her help, since they'll be able to see exactly who those people are.

"They're almost directly east, about that way," I indicate for Tamamo, who nods and quickly flicks out several talismans that poof into mana-based fox-like familiars that gallop across the grass quickly to investigate the situation for us. "I suggest we follow those foxes so that we make sure those people don't get out of reach, in case they start leaving for whatever reason. We really can't afford to not have information about what's going on."

"Information is that precious to you now, is it?" Salter chortles quietly.

"For someone who wasn't born with a frickin' dragon's heart that just gives them damn near infinite mana, yes, I like to think that knowledge is half the battle," I retort swiftly. "I think I discussed this just a little bit ago, so let's go."

"We need to run again...?" Tamamo groans rather loudly.

"Once again, Tammy, I can always carry you if you'd like."

"D-Don't call me 'Tammy'!" she squeals, blushing at that nickname.

"Then let's go."

So we follow the foxes' trails, but this time it doesn't take us anywhere near as long to reach this group of people I've detected, and as we close in, Tamamo, whose golden-auburn eyes are glowing with a serene and mystical pink backglow, a similar shade of pink to her hair and the same color as the foxes that she's sent out, fills us in on what her temporary familiars see.

"They're soldiers," Tamamo says as we approach a grove of trees lining the side of a dirt path in the middle of vast fields paved with only a few roads. "We should approach them with caution...not that they pose any threat to us, I don't feel any magical power coming from any of them."

Squinting in the distance of the soldiers, I can see them, and they sure do look like soldiers, dressed in chainmail armor, swords, spears, and bows and arrows. If there were ever any doubts that we're no longer in modern day times, there shouldn't be now.

"Master, I'll make direct contact with them for us and ask them about what's going on," Matthew says, emerging from the grove of trees as she says this so that I don't have time or even a chance to dissuade her, as from here, once the soldiers, who seem to be on patrol, face our way, they'll spot us immediately.

"Disarm. If they're just ordinary soldiers, they can't do shit to us anyway," I order my Servants, which they do, Salter more reluctantly so as we follow behind Matthew, who, upon reaching around maybe fifty meters behind the patrol of soldiers, calls out to them.

"Excuse me! Hello, sirs? May we take a little bit of your time?"

The soldiers, hearing her, turn around to us, and when they do spot us, they all freeze in place, not reacting beyond that. Slightly confused, Matthew calls out to them again.

"Uh, excuse me! Uh, yes, um, could you tell us where we are and what's going on right now in this country?"

One of the soldiers yells in response something in French, his voice definitely panicked, and the rest of the soldiers roar in unison and charge at us.

"Oh no, I - !" Matthew facepalms hard. "I forgot to speak in French - !"

"Yeah, I was about to say..." I grimace a little at Matthew's slight blunder. "Well, too late for that now. Nonlethal attacks, everyone, no reason to kill anyone here."

Sighing heavily at her mistake, Matthew switches to combat mode and heaves her cross-shield upright as the others draw their blades, with Caster next to me already in the middle of tossing out a few talismans almost lazily, while I'm also already in the middle of dashing in to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Tamamo's talismans go off with minor explosions that sound more like firecrackers than actual explosions the same moment that I flash-step right in front of the nearest soldier charging at Matthew to grab him by his shoulders before he can react and slam him on his back against the ground. Artoria, having leapt into the air after me, slams her metal boots onto the grass next to me to defend me from another soldier who's redirected his attention at me, meeting blades with him and his sword, while Saber Alter, choosing to dash quickly and speedily along the grass, swings Excalibur Morgan at just the right distance where her blade cuts another soldier's spear in half, rendering it useless, and barely nicks his armor, cleanly putting a small slash in it. Meanwhile, having ripped the sword out of the hand of the soldier whom I've pinned against the ground and plunged it into the grass next to his head to convince him to stay down, I look up, and already the three Artoria's are plowing their way through the French soldiers, quite literally slapping them away with the backs of their swords or the bottoms of their handles, and Matthew and Tamamo both join me while the Saber Servants handle the rest.

Matthew begins speaking with the French soldier that I've pinned on the ground in French, so I don't understand what they're talking about. I do watch them, since you can tell a lot about a conversation that's being spoken in a foreign language, since body language is pretty universal - at least most of the time. And sure enough, the French soldier seems immediately relieved that Matthew is speaking French to him, and he suddenly becomes more cooperative in talking with her. At around the time Matthew is done talking with him, the Artoria's are just about done whacking the soldiers around, who lay on the ground groaning or trying to run away.

"Master, from what the soldier told me, it seems like we're in France during the time of the Hundred Years' War," she informs us. "And furthermore, Jeanne d'Arc, the peasant girl who led French troops to victories against the British and helped Charles VII claim his throne, so more accurately speaking, we are in 1431 France."

"So this Singularity's taken us _back_ in time, but yet it's trying to exist in the present day as a Reality Marble," I conclude, watching Fou gaze curiously at the French soldier that Matthew has questioned as he sits up on the ground. "...interesting..."

Receiving an incoming transmission from Chaldea, Matthew opens up the hologram projection from her uniform again, and Da Vinci is back on the screen, along with Roman behind her.

 _"You guys, you guys! Thank God I'm the genius that I am, because I just managed to reprogram SHIVA to begin scanning the present! You're all in 1431 France right now, during the Hundred Years' War between the French and the Br - "_

"You're a bit late on that one, Da Vinci," I call back at her.

 _"Oh. Did you ask those people that you're with? We're seeing multiple human signatures around you..."_

"Yeah, they turned out to be a French soldier patrol, and Matthew interrogated one of them just now. Matthew, ask him if there's anything weird going on?"

So Matthew consults our hostage, sort of, who is staring at the blue hologram projection as if it's witchcraft...which he wouldn't be totally wrong about. But as I watch the two of them talk, I notice that Matthew's countenance grows extremely alarmed.

"He said that Charles VII was assassinated by Jeanne d'Arc," Matthew utters hastily to me in alarmed surprise. "But according to history, she wouldn't do something like that! She helped him gain the throne, and after all she'd done, she would just unravel it all by killing him?"

"The bigger question is, how can she kill the French king when she's supposed to be burned at the stake," I point out.

"She might have become a Servant," Tamamo inputs wisely. "Normally I would say that that is impossible, for a Servant to come about after such a short time after dying. But this being an abnormal Holy Grail War and whatnot, anything is possible."

"So you think Joan's out 'n about now?"

"Joan?"

"Oh, Jeanne. We learned her as 'Joan of Arc' in America, since that's her Anglicized name."

Matthew nods before going back to talk to the soldier.

"He also says that the country is under attack by wyverns and dragons, and that they've been ravaging the country for the past several days ever since Jeanne murdered the king at Orleans," Matthew tells us. "The French are trying to do everything they can against them, but it's not going well; they're obviously not equipped to fight against things like dragons and wyverns."

"What about the British? It's the Hundred Years' War, where are they at right now?"

Matthew returns to the soldier.

"The British got wiped out by the dragons; from what our friend here is saying, it really seemed like the dragons headed for the British first. Whoever didn't die to the dragon attacks escaped already."

Maybe that's why the French soldiers here attacked us as soon as we made ourselves known; the combination of Matthew speaking English to them and the threat of dragon attacks looming over them would understandably be enough to set them over the edge.

"So Jeanne is confirmed to be back alive," I repeat, and Matthew nods.

"She must be; he's saying that it's positively her."

"I'll believe that when we meet her in person, if we ever do. Ask him where we can go find her. Orleans, or somewhere? And tell him that we'll help out in fighting against the dragons and whatever else."

Matthew consults our friend again, while the Artoria's regroup back to us.

"He says that she should still be in Orleans, but no one really knows for sure. He recommends that if we want to help, we should head over to Vaucouleurs, where one of the French military's bases should still be intact since it's on the fringes of the country's borders, or something like that."

Vaucouleurs...I know I saw that name, but I don't remember exactly where it is on the map.

"Roman, look up where Vaucouleurs is," I holler at the hologram screen, which Matthew has still left active, which now depicts him tapping occasionally on his smartphone.

 _"W-Wha? Oh, uh, yeah, I'll be right on that!"_

"Don't play with Magi Mari while you're on duty, asshat."

 _"Sorry, sorry! It's just - Magi Mari's the only one who really understands me these days, y'know...?"_

"What are you, a fifteen-year-old mascara-wearin' emo?"

 _"Hey, that feels like that hits a little bit too close to home, you know!"_

Roman is a fucking handful and a half sometimes.

 _"Okay, Vaucouleurs is - the northeast corner of France. You're a long ways off if you wanna head over there,"_ Roman informs us.

"Ask him if there're any other bases that we can reach that're closer."

"No, he says there aren't. The other one would be down Lyon or La Charite, but La Charite was being attacked the last time they heard about it, so it probably isn't wise to go there."

"Vaucouleurs it is, then," I decide while twisting my lips, not really looking forward to the travels. Not because of the strains of travel themselves, but because we'll have to waste precious time getting there without a fast method of travel. "Tamamo, do you have a way to get us around quickly?"

"Hmm...how comfortable are you with flying on mirrors?"

I'm not quite sure how I should answer that.

"Explain?" I ask, but the moment I ask, I realize what she's talking about - the mirrors that she used against me back when we sparred together. But Tamamo shows me anyway, conjuring up one of those mirrors of hers in front of her.

"They should be big enough for one person to ride each," she says. "Just make sure to hang onto it ~ "

"We don't really have an alternative, so we'll go with that. Roman, what's the direction that Vaucouleurs is in?"

 _"Directly east from your position, maybe a little bit south, too."_

"W-We'll be riding on magic mirrors...?" Lily asks in marvel, her eyes positively sparkling as Tamamo conjures up mirrors for each of us.

"Yeah. Apparently, magic carpets are overrated," I remark snarkily. "Let's get goin'."

As we climb onto our mirrors as the defeated French soldiers all gawk at us in a mix of terror and amazement, I feel another question pop into the back of my head: why is it that my Servants and I are the only intruders in this Singularity so far? That seems a little _too_ convenient for my tastes.


	36. Hold the Fort

"So why didn't we just use these to fly over here instead 'a goin' on a plane?" I holler over at Tamamo as all six of us, each of us sitting on one of Tamamo's magic mirrors and clutching onto the edges for dear life, speed across the sky over the land, at a height that I estimate to be roughly five hundred meters or so, give or take fifty.

"This takes a _lot_ of mana, you know!" Tamamo shouts back. "I can't just do this all the time! Though, having a Master who has a ton of mana doesn't hurt either ~ "

That explains why I've been feeling more and more tired during our little flight on her magic mirrors, but I'd chalked that up to the stress of flying and whatnot. I glance around at my little posse - I can only imagine just how ridiculous we look, flying across the land of France on these mirrors.

"I'm seeing what looks like a fort in the distance, Master!" Matthew reports, with her hand over her eyes as she peers off into the horizon with Fou riding on her left shoulder. "That must be the base that the soldier told us about!"

"Never mind the fort, look!" Artoria says, "wyverns are attacking that base!"

Sure enough, even from this distance, I can make out what appear to be small dragons flocking around one side of the base, attacking a sizeable force of French soldiers who are clearly having a hard time trying to fend them off, though to their credit, there are a few wyverns lying still around on the ground, presumably dead.

"I think I see more coming behind us, but we'll reach the fort before they do," Tamamo also reports, looking behind us towards the southwest. "What should we do, Master?"

"Reach the fort first - the soldiers look like they could use some help," I decide. "Get ready to jump!"

"Jum - wait, Master, don't do that! I can just have everyone land normally!" Tamamo squeals in fright. "You're forgetting everything we talked about, you knooowwww! ! !"

I just give Tamamo a pleasant smile and a thumbs-up.

 _"That's not exactly reassuring!"_

We near the fort, and since I don't want Tamamo clawing at my eyes because of how I take things at my own pace, I point my hand forward, looking at the others instead.

"Let's go, let's go!"

The three Artoria's and Matthew leap off their respective mirrors at my signal, and Fou, who's carefully made his way over to me thanks too Tamamo navigating Matthew's mirror so that I can hold onto him while Matthew gets in the thick of things, hops up onto my own left shoulder instead.

"I hope you don't mind loud gun noises," I tell Fou, pulling my MK-17 SSR out of its magical storage and clicking off the safety.

"Kyuu!"

"I'll take that as a no."

Matthew and the Sabers hit the ground running and burst off the ground to reach the soldiers desperately fighting off the wyverns to protect their fort, while Tamamo eases us down to the ground instead so that the two of us can bring up the rear.

"Tamamo, keep tabs on the wyvern reinforcements comin' from the southwest," I request, now watching Matthew hurl her cross-shield at a wyvern and pegging it right in the side of the face with the bottom spike while Artoria throws out a projectile of wind magic to knock a few others asunder.

"They're still a ways off. We can clear these ones out before they get here!"

"Then let's do that."

Almost reaching the front of the fort, I assume a crouching stance to stabilize my shot as I raise my designated marksman rifle and take aim. The magical optic that I've installed on it comes online and automatically assumes a 2x zoom, adjusting based on what I'm aiming at, and I open fire. The rifle reports that roar out from the gun's muzzle sound deeper and bassier, if that's even a word, than it normally does due to the magic bullets that it's firing, which is a benign side effect of using conventional firearms to shoot magic bullets - a common way to tell if magic's involved whenever a gunshot goes off. The bullets I throw out immediately pierce the scales of the wyverns I aim at, and they scream and screech in pain, bleeding as they continue thrashing out against their opposition, which surprises me a little that they're so susceptible to magic bullets - since they have roughly the same ballistics as conventional ammunition, that means that even ordinary bullets should be effective against them.

With our intervention, it doesn't take long for us to mow down this small flock (?) of wyverns, and soon the front of the fort becomes a garden of wyvern corpses that no one knows what to do with, at least not right now.

"Enemies neutralized, Master!" Matthew reports as she rips her shield out of the back of a now-dead wyvern's neck, her shield lightly streaked with dragon blood. "Your orders!"

"Ask these guys what's going on and who's in charge," I instruct immediately, rendezvousing with my Servants while I recharge my gun's magazine with a fresh supply of mana bullets before slapping it back into the magazine receiver. "Also, the three of you, we've got more wyverns inbound from the southwest, so we'll need to take care of them when they get her - "

 _"Hate to interrupt you guys, but - "_ Roman's electronic voice buzzes through as Matthew's hologram projection activates on its own, _" - but I'm reading a growing cluster of energy signatures rising up from the ground about a hundred meters out from your position to the west! They're all weak signatures, but they're definitely magical!"_

"There!" Tamamo points immediately, pinpointing their location for us near instantly. "They look like...skeletons...?"

We all peer off into the distance, and sure enough, it looks like zombie soldiers armed with spears, bows and arrows, and swords are burrowing out of the grass, their skin clearly diseased and rotting. Lily turns to me.

"Master, what should we - "

I snap my fingers in that direction.

A spontaneous explosion, about the size that would be produced if you blew up a gasoline tanker, strikes on the ground, dead center of where the zombie soldiers are trying to emerge. It helps unearth them, but it also tears them apart into bloody giblets and pieces, which ruins the whole point of unearthing them anyway.

"Like I was saying," I clear my throat a little, "take care of the wyverns. Matthew, get on it."

Puckering her lips a little, Matthew immediately turns around and greets the French soldiers behind us rather awkwardly, as the whole bunch of them are just staring at us like we're all aliens, which wouldn't be too far off the mark. While she's talking to them, I raise my hand back up into the air again to perform another Comsat Scan just so that I can tell for myself how close the next wave of wyverns are.

"M-Master, I can just do that for you - " Tamamo quietly tries to tell me, but I've already thrown out my magic relays, and they pick up the wyverns approaching us at high speed from, you guessed it, the southwest. It seems like they'll reach us in less than eight minutes.

But I also detect another significant magical signature that's rounding the fort from the north. It's a strange signature - it's overall quite a weak signature, but it's a signature that I can detect extremely easily, like it's impossible to notice no matter how weak the signature itself is.

"There's someone or something approaching us from the north," I tell my Servants, nodding towards the north. "Don't know what it is, can't tell."

"Now that you mention it..." Artoria murmurs, concentrating on her senses and realizing that someone's heading over to us and turning around. "Do you believe it to be an enemy, Master?"

"Their signature's really weak, so if they are, it shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not about to make assumptions here..."

"Should we greet them first?" Salter asks, holding Excalibur Morgan with just her left hand on the bottom of the handle with the sword standing with the point against the ground - her usual pose, just one-handed as she gazes off to the north, though we can't see anything just yet.

"Nah. Let 'em come to us first. We'll probably have to go around the fort to deal with the wyverns anyway, no point in us moving out just to come back..."

So we wait for whoever it is that's rounding the fort from the north, and a few minutes later, we spy a figure of a short girl clad in a huge navy blue cloak adorned with white crosses and a few armor pieces that mainly protect her abdomen and gauntlets that cover her arms all the way up to her shoulder. Navy blue thigh-highs, metal boots, an open navy blue half-skirt...

...they had thigh-highs in this era? The more you know.

She wears a sword on her left side, but she holds a battle standard instead, an impressively big one, at that, with a very conspicuous spear tip at the end.

"There she is," Tamamo remarks, and when I glance over at her, she's not even trying to hide the lip twisting that she's doing. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that she's not exactly pleased at the fact that the girl approaching us now is yet another blonde bombshell who, curiously, wears a very interesting facemask that doesn't actually mask her face. As a matter of fact, when I look back at her, I don't...really know what the point of that facemask is in the first place. It's probably strictly decorative...mages and people with magical tendencies tend not to give a fuck about what makes sense or not anyway.

In any case, this newcomer girl doesn't exactly look pleased to see us either - or perhaps the more accurate thing to say is that she doesn't know what to make of us, especially when we're all just staring at her approach us, but I guess that would apply to most people too. She still nears us anyway, and I take it upon myself to walk out to her to greet her, but then I remember that I can't speak French. Shit.

I decide to take a chance anyway and call out to her in English, since if she freaks out like the soldiers and attacks me, I've got everyone behind me to back me up.

"Uh, hi. We saw you were coming here," I say to her as she continues to walk towards me. "What's your name?"

"Ruler," she responds immediately in crisp English that's wrapped in a silky smooth French accent. "Please call me 'Ruler', for that is my class, as it would seem."

Not even hiding the fact that she's a Servant, huh. But a Ruler? Never heard of that before. I'll just blame this abnormal Holy Grail War like I always do.

"I was headed here to help my people defeat the wyverns, but..." Ruler eyes the dead wyvern corpses felled around us. "...it would seem that my assistance was not necessary."

"More like, you were cautious of approaching us since I'm a mage and these girls behind me are like you," I respond. The more I gaze at her, the more I feel like her face looks familiar. "Servants."

I notice her hands clench her standard a bit more tightly.

"That's...that's right," she says, dropping her voice a little. "These are...indeed Servants. I will not try to hide the fact that I approach you now because you have Servants in your midst. I assume that you are their Master?"

I remove the fingerless glove from my right hand to show her my Command Spells, against my better judgment - even if this is a weird Holy Grail War, I can't imagine that what I'm doing is by any means a smart idea, but since this is a Servant I'm dealing with...

"Where's yours?" I ask her.

Ruler simply shakes her head.

"I - "

But she gets cut off by a distant screech of a wyvern heading for the fort from the southwest.

" - I'm sorry, but we must save this discussion for a later time. We must defend this fort!" Ruler apologizes to me, assuming her serious countenance again as she steps forward again on her own directive to call out to the French soldiers in French who still seem to be occupied by Matthew. The French soldiers all immediately freak the fuck out when they see her and back off, but one of them tries to get tough and screams something at her in French before breaking out into a charge against her, causing her to react by assuming a defensive stance with her standard.

Artoria also reacts, starting to run to Ruler's aid, but that won't be necessary.

Flash-stepping right in front of Ruler, I smack the back of my left fist against the sword that the French soldier swings at Jeanne that's aimed for her neck, parrying the strike with enough force to knock the sword clear out of his hands while at the same time pulling one of my .44 Desert Eagles out of my magic storage, clicking off the safety, and holding it against the soldier's forehead to stop him dead in his tracks - all before my Scar, which I've left behind me to come to Ruler's aid, softly lands on its side on the dirt.

Matthew yells something out to the soldier whom I'm holding at gunpoint, and he backs off slowly to retreat to his comrades, and I swiftly slip the gun back into its storage again.

"You three, go with Ruler to handle the wyverns, we'll follow you," I order them, and the Sabers nod and hurry with Ruler to the southwest front of the fort while I double back to pick up my rifle and follow close behind with Tamamo, Matthew, and Fou.

"Master, who is she?" Matthew inquires as we trail behind the four ahead of us. "I didn't even feel her presence until she started talking to you."

"A Servant, apparently. Ruler Class."

"R-Ruler? That's..."

"Yeah, I've never heard of it too. The fuck is a Ruler?"

 _"It's a non-standard Servant Class. They don't usually show up unless the Grail feels that things are going on that go against its own authority,"_ Roman inputs from his hologram projection. _"And when it does, it summons in Ruler-Class Servants who act in its interest to make sure the Holy Grail War goes as it should."_

"But this's a weird Holy Grail War. That might not apply."

 _"I know, I'm just letting you know about this in case this kind of information'll come in handy for later..."_

"There _have_ been weird classes before, Master. This isn't the first time..." Tamamo adds.

"Should'a known, huh."

We catch up to Ruler and the Artoria's, who are already busy engaging the wyvern force while soldiers from up on the ramparts behind the fort's walls are firing arrows over to assist, though I get the feeling that they're more of a hindrance than an actual help.

"Hi-yah!"

Tamamo, acting first, tosses up a few talismans up into the air, and they convert themselves into large, sharp icicles that propel themselves forward and crash into a pair of wyverns, also piercing their scales and impaling them, knocking them out of the air with several sizeable splashes of blood.

"Haaa!" Saber Lily cries, trying to do her best not to seem inferior to her older selves as she bravely clangs Caliburn against the claws of a wyvern that's swooped down at her to scratch at her with its talons, and I help out by raising my MK-17, taking aim, and pulling the trigger, tapping the wyvern once in the side of the head to kill it instantly. "Th-Thank you, Master!"

"Another one coming at'cha!" I holler back over to her, which causes Lily to snap back to attention to defend herself, and when she locates the wyvern soaring straight towards her, Lily tightens her grip on her sword, causing the blade to brim with golden mana as she raises it over her head and swings downwards diagonally, unleashing an arc of golden energy that knocks against the wyvern like a truck and carries it with it as it travels for a few seconds across the air before detonating like a remote explosion, throwing the wyvern down to the ground in a smoking, helpless heap.

Saber Alter and Artoria are easily cutting everything down in their path, as to be expected of master swordswomen like themselves with the pedigree that is King Arthur. Salter impales a wyvern by throwing Excalibur Morgan at it, catching it mid-flight directly over her, and she then jumps up to the wyvern as the weight of Excalibur Morgan stops its momentum completely in midair. Grabbing hold of her sword back, Salter rips it out of the wyvern's belly and swings it in a full three-sixty arc, twisting her body around in order to accomplish this and pumping mana into her blade to extend its reach, decapitating two more wyverns and clipping the wing of another.

"Wind, vanquish my enemy!" Artoria roars, and she also swings her swords upwards, striking and blowing back a few wyverns of her own, and the wyverns, unable to stabilize, tumble down to the ground in a tangled heap, which makes all three of them easy pickings for Tamamo, who flings a handful of talismans over their way that slide underneath them and then release a burst of sinister dark purple energy that blast upwards like a bonfire, blasting them apart and knocking them in their own separate ways.

Ruler, seeing that she's outmatched by the raw combat skill of the others, provides support to the others by defending whoever she feels has an open angle to attack. She jumps to Artoria's aid when a few other wyverns who've dodged her wind attack fired by Excalibur swoop around to attack her side flanks, twirling her standard in her hands to wrap up the banner that it flies so that she can use it as a makeshift spear without having to worry about the banner getting in the way. Exchanging steel with the wyverns, she parries each of their fly-bys with well-positioned thrusts of her spear, holding it out so that the length of her standard meets the talons, so that Artoria can refocus her attention back on them.

"They're flying out of range!" Matthew calls out, watching the surviving wyverns as they flap up high into the air to regroup and consolidate their remaining numbers.

This is where I come in: aiming my marksman rifle up, I empty my magazine's current supply of mana bullets, sniping another pair of wyverns out of the sky before they realize what's going on and disperse to avoid giving me a clean shot. The fact that I'm able to shoot them even from this range alarms the wyverns, as they target me next and all come swooping down at me to try to take me out first.

"Master!" Matthew shouts in alarm, and she hops in front of me and positions her shield up at an angle to cover as much of us as possible, and Tamamo, snarling in response to the wyverns focusing on me next, throws out her hands before her angled up at the sky and unleashes a surge of the same sinister dark purple energy in a jetstream, blasting the wyverns away.

"And just for good measure!" Caster shouts tauntingly, raising her hands this time up over her head, where she gathers the same dark purple mana into a giant ball before hurling it with both hands over to one of the wyverns falling out of the sky, and the death ball immediately explodes upon contact with her target, blowing not only it up but also the other wyverns who're also falling to the ground with it up as well.

"Here!"

Ruler, holding her standard like a javelin, hurls it with the finesse of an Olympic javelin thrower and nails the last wyvern trying to retreat right through the back of the head, and the wyvern immediately drops out of the air like a rock sinking into a pond and crashes hard against the ground.

"Area secure! Reinforcement wyverns defeated," Matthew concludes, resting her cross-shield down against the ground next to her. "Is everyone alright?"

"We are all fine, no injuries," Artoria reports, nodding confidently. "Master, how about you?"

"I'm fine. Looks like we're good here." I turn to Matthew. "So what did those soldiers tell you?"

"Their commander was killed recently by a previous wyvern attack, so currently this base has no presiding commander. A lieutenant is acting as provisional commander, but they're only been barely able to hang on to this base," Matthew shakes her head. "And the soldiers say that the lieutenant wishes not to speak to us..."

"They didn't even send someone inside to see what he said," I frown immediately. "So in other words, that's bullshit - "

We're interrupted by one of the French soldiers above us on the ramparts, and when we look up at him, he's screaming furiously down at us in French.

"The fuck's he saying?" I demand quietly.

"He's..." Matthew glances nervously over at Ruler. "...he's...not very pleased to see Ruler, that's...that's for sure."

When I glance over at Ruler myself, she isn't too thrilled by what the French soldier is yelling at her.

"What's he saying, exactly?" I demand once more from Matthew.

"He's calling her the witch...the witch that murdered Charles VII and lay waste to the country," Matthew says softly.

I swiftly click off the safety of my rifle and start aiming up at the soldier, but Ruler darts out her arm and grabs the hot barrel with her fist, the heat softly sizzling against her gauntlet.

"Do not worry about me, dear Master," she says quietly as well. "For now, let us remove ourselves from this place."

Holding my peace, I give the French soldier up above us one last deep glare before we head off, heading away from the the base.

"My True Name is Jeanne d'Arc," Ruler informs us. "As I'd said, I am a Ruler-Class Servant."

"Artoria Pendragon, Saber," I point over at Artoria to begin introductions, which I like keeping concise and quick. "Artoria Pendragon Alter, Saber, Artoria Pendragon Lily, Saber. And yes, they're all the same person, just, Lily is the young self, and Alter's the one who eats like a goat."

"Why a goat, Master?" Salter inquires of me.

"Because you'll eat anything and everything, that's why."

The others break out into a small smattering of laughter at Salter's expense.

"Matthew Kyrielight, Shielder. She's what's known as a Demi-Servant, or a fusion of a human and a Servant. Tamamo no Mae, Caster. August Il, just call me August."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, _Monsieur_ August," Jeanne smiles at me, shaking my hand. "There is a forest over there; let us rest there, out of the sight of this fort. We will be under no shortage of surveillance if we were to remain in this vicinity..."


	37. Tracked

"Oh dear..." Jeanne sighs as we step into the forest, only to be greeted by the distant but audible moans of zombie soldiers and skeleton warriors lurking here, in addition to the occasional growling and snarls of wyverns.

"I'll lure them out," I murmur, and I pull out one of my Desert Eagles, aim straight up into the air, and pull the trigger without a second thought. The loud report echoes through the forest violently, instantly grabbing the attention of every single enemy lurking in this small forest. Jeanne winces at the loud report of my handgun, but to my surprise, she doesn't react poorly at all to it. Perhaps she's heard gunshots before? Well, I _have_ been using my MK-17 all this time, so...

"Assuming combat activities, Mast - " Matthew is saying, but interrupt her by holding up a fist at her while I drop my pistol back into its magical storage rune and, again, pull out my MK-17 SSR.

"I'll handle this," I shake my head, addressing the entire party as a whole as I reach for the muzzle of the rifle and install a silencing rune around it to suppress the noise of my shots, twisting my hand round and round as if I actually were screwing on a physical suppressor onto my weapon.

"No, August, let us help - " Jeanne tries to assure me, but I remain firm as I aim down the magic optics of my rifle, resting the center dot right over an approaching skeleton's head.

"All of you'll only be wasting mana against these pieces 'a trash," I shake my head again and immediately open fire. Thanks to the silencer rune I've installed, my gunshots are now tiny little pops compared to the thunderclaps that they were before, comparatively. These skeleton's aren't particularly fast, and neither are the zombies - only the wyvern poses any serious threat, but I gun it down before it gets anywhere even close. One shot, one kill - and such efficiency is what allows me to take out all the hostiles in our area with a single magazine's worth of ammo with exactly two bullets to spare.

"E-Enemies eliminated..." Matthew reports as soon as I've put a bullet into the last zombie's cranium, and I throw out another Comsat Scan so that I can ascertain that our area is clear, or at least devoid of any magical signatures.

"Amazing...!" Jeanne praises me, sounding genuinely impressed, which almost takes me by surprise. "You must be a very strong Master, August."

"Not strong, just good at what I do," I correct her matter-of-factly. "But let's clear these bodies and sit down somewhere..."

We take a few moments to pick a small little clearing where we pull over a few logs to use as seats and drag away the bodies that I've felled, like unmoving skeletons and dead zombies. Once that's out of the way, we all take seats to rest, with Matthew setting down her cross-shield and simply sitting on that.

"So, once again, I'm August," I redo our introductions, since we can be as cordial as we like now, now that we don't need to deal with those French soldiers at the fort. "So, startin' from my right, Tamamo, our Caster, Artoria Pendragon, all Sabers, Jeanne, and Matthew."

"And I am Jeanne d'Arc, Ruler," Jeanne reintroduces herself with a smile that unfortunately doesn't last for long as she removes her weird trident-like facemask off her forehead and scalp. "I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance...I wholeheartedly admit that I am very glad to have met you all, for my arrival here would have been a little...awkward had I stayed alone at that fort..."

"Yeah, tell us about what's going on, your side of the story," I ask her first.

"Yes, of course. But, truth be told, there is...not much for me to say..." Jeanne frowns sadly, lowering her gaze. "I found myself summoned barely a few hours ago, and I made my way here because I was told that there was a fort where assistance was sorely needed. I know that I am a Ruler-Class Servant, but that I for some reason lack much of my power as a Servant, including my anti-Servant Command Spells and my ability to reveal True Names. Beyond this, there is nothing else I can tell you, really..."

"Then allow us to explain our end," Matthew picks up where Jeanne leaves off. "We are from an organization called Chaldea, whose objective is to protect humanity and maintain human history as the world knows it currently by detecting and resolving incidents that we refer to as 'Singularities', which are emerging in various spots around the world as Reality Marble-like entities threatening to replace the world's current reality with its own. My Master, August, is a Master who is working with Chaldea to arrive on-scene and resolve these Singularities in person while the Chaldea staff support us from our headquarters in Switzerland."

 _"Ah, and I'm one of those staff that she's referring to,"_ Roman pops in again, much to Jeanne's surprise. _"I'm Roman Archaman, by the way, I'm their tactical situation advisor and announcer guy, nice to meet you! Oh, man, it's surreal being able to talk to the one and only Jeanne d'Arc herself in the flesh, the Holy Saint and the - "_

"Or, in other words, the guy who sits back and eats candy all day while we're out here puttin' these zombies back in the dirt," I remark dryly, cutting Roman off.

 _"Hey, this candy is good, though! What is this...Hi-Chew?"_ We can all hear Roman chewing audibly. _"Mmm, yeah, these're good stuff! Where'd you get these, Matthew?"_

"Roman, when I have a chance to get back to Chaldea, I'm going to request permission from Lady Animusphere to shove two sticks of those down your throat," Matthew smiles perfectly innocently.

 _"Whoa, whoa, it feels like I'm getting threatened for some reason, and I don't even know what I did..."_

I clear my throat loudly.

"Currently we're investigating why there're reanimated skeletons, zombies, and wyverns runnin' around in France, because as far we I'm aware, those things most _certainly_ weren't around back in 1431 France," I enunciate clearly. "What we know is that King Charles VII was murdered by this Jeanne d'Arc that we don't know about and now the country's goin' to shit. Right now, our biggest question that we need to settle is you."

I point briefly to Ruler.

"I...I can assure you that I know nothing of this other...this other Jeanne d'Arc," Jeanne stammers, acting quick to defend herself.

"Well, even before that..."

I begin glancing back and forth - from Ruler, over to the Artoria's, then back to Jeannie, then back to the Sabers again.

"...is it just me, or do _all_ of you have the _exact same face?"_ I question, pointing in both directions at Jeanne and the Artoria's at the same time.

The whole group just blinks at one another.

"Ohhh, no, wait, you're right, Master!" Tamamo exclaims softly, marveling at this weird coincidence. "They all _do_ have the same face!"

"But...it's not as pronounced for Lady Jeanne since her hairstyle and her outfit are much different," Matthew points out.

"I guess so. I just thought that was really weird..."

Artoria is grimacing, holding her hand over her lips in a bit of a Thinking Man pose and with a troubled look on her face.

"...um, Artoria, what's wrong...?" Lily asks her older self.

"No, it...it is nothing. I just remembered something about this topic from a previous Holy Grail War, though I cannot identify which one exactly..." Artoria mumbles.

"Well, anyways, sorry for sidetracking us. Go on?" I gesture to Jeanne.

"Oh...hm, well, I believe bringing up what that soldier yelled at me is relevant. He called me the 'Dragon Witch', and if you all already know that another Jeanne d'Arc exists and was the one who murdered the Dauphin, then I can only assume that this 'Dragon Witch' is that other Jeanne," Jeanne reasons. "But beyond this, I can add nothing else. I do not know if I can even be of great physical assistance, with the state that I have apparently been summoned in, and it appears to me that it hasn't even been a few days since I was burned at the stake, but..."

Damn, it's _that_ recent? _And_ she remembers her own death that's got to be fresh on her mind like no other.

But Jeanne sits up straight, hardening her resolve, as indicated by the toughening of the look on her face.

"...I cannot sit idly by when I know that there is potentially another 'me' laying waste to this country and people that I love. The Lord did not show me this path as he did before during my life, but this is simply not something that I can ignore. Please, August, allow me to join you in your endeavors in resolving this...Singularity, as you call it."

"Sure. Welcome to the club," I grin curtly at her. "But I guess I should ask you now, even if this isn't the most polite question to ask, but where's your Master? Do you even have one?"

"Master? Oh, well, you see, I...wasn't summoned by one," Jeanne, turning a little red in the cheeks, explains as she looks away again just a little. "I don't know why or how I was able to be summoned without a Master, but...here I am."

"Then if you'd like, you can establish a contract with me so that my mana flow can make you stronger."

"Oh, that's - !" But Jeanne hesitates immediately, looking around at the party. "That's...well...you...already seem to have so many of your own Servants...if I form a contract with you, then...I get the feeling that I would be placing even more of a burden on you as well..."

"Oh, you're worried about that? It's never really bothered me so far," I just shrug. "I think just a handshake will do. That's what I did for Salter, anyway."

So Jeanne takes my outstretched right hand to return my handshake, and the Command Spells on the back of my hand simmer and glow with deep red light as they acknowledge another Servant added to my unwritten roster of Servants under my control.

"My goodness, I...I feel stronger already," Jeanne is unable to hide her smile of pleasant surprise as she, too, gains access to my mana pool as my Servant. "I feel like I can discern True Names on my own now, even if it is only to a certain extent...thank you so much, August! Or, um..." Jeanne blushes again, "...should I say, Master?"

"Gunununu..."

I turn around to glance at Tamamo to my right, and Tamamo is clearly pouting really, really hard at Jeanne.

"Now's not the time for that, Tamamo," I remind Caster.

"Gunununu..."

I sigh, rolling my eyes.

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to bring up, but I just wanna ask you," I speak to Jeanne, "you're okay with fighting even though you know that you only _just_ died a few days ago? I don't know what being a Servant is like, obviously, but I'd imagine that that must feel really weird."

"Erm...yes, I...I will admit that this is a most peculiar sensation..." Jeanne mumbles, yet again averting her eyes. "...but at the same time, I know that my original self is already dead and there is nothing I can do about it. After all, Servants needed to have died in their original lives to become Servants to begin with. So don't worry about me, Master. I will get accustomed to this, um, this new role of being a Servant...identity, even. I will have to, if I wish to assist you all in resolving this Singularity and restoring order back to my beloved country."

"Cool." I nod firmly before looking around at the party. "So now we should decide on what we need to do."

"The soldier I talked to back at the coast said that the other Jeanne who assassinated Charles VII said that he was murdered out of Orleans, so it's likely that she is still there. We don't know how strong the enemy forces are, so perhaps it's not the best idea for us to assault Orleans directly," Matthew states.

"But we've got the power to match a few armies and _then_ some!" Tamamo insists, looking around like I did just a moment ago. "And it's not like Master's gonna run out of mana anytime soon."

"Whoa, whoa, I wouldn't go _that_ far..." I warn Tamamo, raising a hand up at her to stop her in her tracks. "Maybe I'm fine with everyone fighting as they _have_ been up 'til now, but I'm not sure what's gonna happen when everyone here blows their Noble Phantasms all at the same time..."

"Master, this has crossed my mind earlier, but do you believe that this other Jeanne d'Arc is in possession of the Holy Grail that is responsible for this Singularity?" Artoria asks, getting us back on topic.

"Yeah, probably. If people're callin' her the Dragon Witch, obviously we'll have to assume for now that she's the one throwing these wyverns at everyone and rippin' up the country, and to do that, she'll probably need the Holy Grail's help. I guess in that sense, we have a good idea of where the Holy Grail's at right now, and it's probably not gonna leave anytime soon..."

"Th-The Holy Grail, you say?" Jeanne seems extremely concerned. "If the Grail itself is at stake, then..."

"Yeah, means we gotta act fast either way. Which is why we need to figure out what we're doin' and execute it."

"Then I suggest that we make our way to nearby towns and see if we can ask around for information that may help us become more aware of the situation that is developing," Jeanne determines. "Is that acceptable, Master?"

"Yeah." I look up at the sky, since it's not like ENIAC can tell me what time it is right now, at least not accurately. Given the position of the sun, it's about late afternoon. "We still have time to get some stuff done. Let's head out now and go to the nearest town, see if anyone there can tell us something."

I get up, and so do the rest of the Servants, though Tamamo tugs on my jacket sleeve.

"Master, are you sure you won't get, like, really tired from moving around all day?" Tamamo asks with great concern now.

"This? Tiring?" I snicker a bit. "It's better than the monotony that's running a business, at least. Real life is nice, but sometimes I need a break from it."

"Business...?" Jeanne asks curiously, unable to help herself, and when I turn to her, she goes red again and looks away. "Er, I'm...I'm sorry, I must be prying into personal business..."

"Oh, I have this business back at home that I make a living through," I explain quickly, not sure if she'll understand if I try to tell her what the exact nature of my business is. Does she know the term "freight forwarding", I wonder?

"I see...well, in any case, please follow me. I believe I know the general direction to which we should head..."

So we let Jeanne take the lead as she guides us out of the forest to the west-southwest.

* * *

It becomes sundown while we're searching around for a town to visit, but I guess in 1431 France there aren't nearly as many villages as there are in the present day. There's my daily dose of Captain Obvious for the day.

In any case, we've resorted to flying around on Tamamo's magic mirrors again, which Jeanne didn't react well to at first and still has trouble adjusting to as we all converge together after scouting around individually to cover as much ground as possible. A possible fear of heights, maybe?

"This is La Charite," Jeanne explains, calling into her own communication rune that I've made for her too, now that she's part of our little group. "Or, more accurately, the outskirts of it. Hopefully _this_ time there are actually people here to whom we can speak..."

While we're still gliding across the air to land inside La Charite, I glance at Jeanne, who doesn't seem to be doing very well at all. All the towns and villages we've visited thus far have either been abandoned, razed, or both, with varying degrees of chaos for each.

 _"Whoa, hold it, I've just gotten a reading on a Servant down there in the town!"_ Roman utters, alarmed. _"Wait, it just disappeared, what the...? Anyways, proceed with caution!"_

"Enemies on the ground! Prepare for combat, everyone!" Matthew advises, spotting more skeletons and zombies lounging about down at ground zero, and I scan the town while we're descending. The town itself is in ruins, no surprise, and it's probably the biggest town we've run into yet. I spy a old church tower whose top's been lopped off by something, probably wyverns, so I point over to it.

"Tamamo, take me to that tower. I'll set up overwatch there," I instruct Caster, who flies the two of us over to the tower while dropping everyone else down to the road directly beneath it. The Sabers all hop off even before the mirrors touch the ground, while Jeanne takes her time and gingerly steps off like she's done for the past couple of landings we've done.

"Touchdown ~ " Tamamo sings as she and I slip into the tower, where thankfully the scaffolding is still intact, giving us at least a little bit of room to maneuver and reposition. Pulling out my MK-17 SSR again, I click off the safety once more and aim down sights as my Servants down on the ground get to work, immediately clearing this initial street of alerted combatants who begin shuffling towards our position to attack. A few minutes into our attack, Tamamo calls out to me urgently, "Master, Master! More of those annoying flying rat thingies coming from the southwest!"

She probably means the wyverns.

So I move over to her, reloading my marksman rifle in transition, and raise it again, acquiring the flock of wyverns flying towards us from Tamamo's indicated direction. I've removed the silencer rune so that my bullets have more range and travel velocity, so my rifle cracks out with every trigger pull of mine, spitting concentrated mana bullets through the air and slapping several of the wyverns out of the sky before they can even reach the town's airspace.

"I'll take care of the rest!" Caster smiles aggressively as she flicks more talismans out like she's flicking steel cards, and the thrown tags burst into shots of flame big enough to engulf a small car each, and they roar towards the remaining wyverns, some of whom react in time and manage to dodge while those who don't react to save their lives get smacked and writhe in the air, slowly descending and eventually plummeting to the ground as they burn to death. The other wyverns who are thrown off course by the fireballs Tamamo has thrown out get picked off by my rifle, as I shoot them in the wings so that they can't fly properly before putting one in their heads to put them down for good. "Good shooting, Master!"

"Thanks." I pull out the magazine to recharge it with another fresh stack of mana bullets, but then Tamamo snaps to the south this time.

"That's...!" she hisses urgently, peering towards the south in our little perch. "Master, those are _Servants!"_

I immediately throw out another Comsat Scan, and sure enough, while I can't tell that they're Servants like Jeanne probably could, they're definitely big signatures, a lot stronger than when I detected Jeanne the first time around.

 _"Master, there are Servants headed towards our position!"_ Jeanne hollers, her voice ringing in my ears - her yelling isn't necessarily because I can still hear her yelling from down on the street, as we're not at all far away from each other. _"I detect five Servants in total!"_

"So how much we wanna bet that they're not friendly?" I mutter sarcastically as I beckon to Tamamo and pull her close, causing her cheeks to pop red too a little.

"M-Master - ?! Er - " she begins, not knowing what to make of me suddenly pulling her close, but I quiet her down urgently.

"Don't have time to put Presence Concealment you; this'll have to do," I murmur to her under my breath. "If those Servants aren't friendly and they see that we're up here, we're in a bad spot." I glance down the church tower, where the broken ladder leads straight down to the church floor. "Let's jump on three."

Tamamo nods, and after counting down, we both hop off at the same time and land hard on the floor. Still keeping Tamamo close, I post up against a broken window that's partially broken, peering through a crack in the glass so that we won't be seen as easily.

The Artoria's, Matthew, and Jeanne, lined up across the street with bloody corpses of zombies and skeletons scattered around them, stand their ground as they watch five Servants off into the distance to the south approach them, walking up the street to confront them, ala Wild West showdown. I blame the early evening sundown for that ambience.

From the left: a Servant with a sword, dressed in nobleman's clothing and with long blonde hair, though it's hard to tell if he/she is a man or a woman...one of those androgynous types, I suppose. Then, a female Servant with holy-looking yet somewhat revealing robes and carrying a cross-shaped staff. In the middle, the other Jeanne d'Arc, given the fact that she looks exactly like our Jeanne, only with some color palette swaps here and there, like differently colored hair and skin tone. The other two on our right are a tall male Servant cradling a wicked-looking lance of some kind with even paler skin than Jeanne and another tall female Servant in what can only be described as dominatrix gear and clothing, also holding a staff but one that contains a crystal on the end of it.

The two sides glare at each other for a few moments in silence, before the other Jeanne speaks out first, in French. Neither Tamamo nor I speak French, and Matthew isn't here with us to translate, so we're just stuck here watching them as Jeanne and the other Jeanne go back and forth in French.

 _"Master, they're arguing with each other about their identities and why the other Jeanne decided to attack this town and the other towns and villages we found,"_ Matthew whispers to us via comms rune. _"These Servants...they're all very powerful. What should we do?"_

"If that other Jeanne's come out of her way to track us down, we gotta return the favor," I murmur, slipping my MK-17 away and instead pulling out the AX-50 sniper rifle. "Everyone, on my mark. You'll know when it happens."

"You should let Ruler talk with that other Jeanne for a little while first, just so that she might be able to figure out more about what's going on," Tamamo advises quietly.

"Yeah, but at the same time, I don't see any way for the girls to get outta there without a fight. And I'd much rather be able to get a free shot off if I've got the chance."

"They're all very strong, I can tell," Tamamo adds. "It's best if you don't get involved yourself, Master. Too risky to fight hand-to-hand with these guys. Let me deal with them for you, I'll beat them all over the heads with my mirrors..."

"Maybe, we'll see."

"It's not _maybe_ , it's - "

But Tamamo gets cut off when the other Jeanne raises her voice and starts laughing at our Jeanne, and the other Jeanne waves her hand at the two Servants to her left, the one with the lance and the crystal staff before turning her back to my Servants and starting to walk away.

Now's my chance.

Swiftly raising my anti-materiel sniper rifle, I stand up so that i can aim through the window. I don't have a good shot - the cracks in the window distort my line of sight too much for me to acquire target on the other Jeanne, but I at least need to try to take her down. I've already weighed the pros and cons of giving away my position and committing first to the attack: if I hit her and she doesn't expect it, I could perhaps weaken her significantly and have a chance to capture her right this instant, and even if I miss and give away my position, my own Servants out there can buy me time and cover me so that Tamamo and I can reposition and provide support again.

"Tamamo," I murmur, creating runes that cover my ears.

"Yes?"

"Cover your ears."

So I pull the trigger of my AX-50, right as Tamamo practically dives onto the floor like there's about to be an earthquake with her hands pressing her fox ears down against her head, _hard._

The sniper rifle report is so strong that the entire window in front of me gets blasted into pieces forward and away from me, and the decibel level shakes the whole church and then some, even shattering a few of the very weakened broken windows around us. The magic bullet I fire barely misses the other Jeanne, whizzing in front of her by a margin of about a few inches or so.

"C'mon!" I yell down at Tamamo, who bolts up to her feet after having protected her ears, and practically throwing my sniper rifle back into its magic storage rune, I grab hold of Tamamo's hand and flash-step out of the church's entrance just as the entire structure, what remains of it, anyway, bursts into one massive fireball.

"Master!" Matthew starts to scream, but the enemy Servant with the crystal staff swings it one-handed as though it were a sword, striking the ground with a wave of bloody red energy that skids across the ground towards me and clips Matthew in the process, blasting her off her feet and out of its way.

But Tamamo, despite barely getting to her feet after I've pulled her with me out of the now-burning church, responds in kind, snapping her arms out to either side and channeling a massive funnel of sinister purple energy that counters the incoming wave, blasting it away in turn and dissipating it.

"Everyone, occupy those four enemy Servants! Tamamo, you're with me, I'm gonna try to capture that other Jeanne!" I lay down orders, even though the battle's already unfolding before my eyes.

"You just won't learn, will you?!" Tamamo roars at me, but I'm already off the scene, flash-stepping straight past my own Servants and past the enemies to reach the other Jeanne...Jeanne Alter, I guess we'll call her, since there's someone else who takes precedent for that.

Jeanne Alter clearly doesn't expect me to reach her so quickly, as made evident by the fact that my explosion-charged fist is already in the middle of being swung at her face even while she's still turning around to me. What saves her isn't anything of her own doing, but rather that of the Servant armed with the lance, which is the first thing that my fist strikes, taking the blow for Jeanne Alter. And very strangely, rather than being able to get the explosion off, the energy focused in my fist gets sapped immediately the moment I touch it, so all I end up accomplishing is smacking the edge of the lance with my knuckles - and consequently shoving my knuckles about four inches all the way into my own hand.

The enemy Lancer Servant, having materialized swiftly to my side to block my punch, darts in to grab hold of me, but ignoring the searing pain in my hand, I duck while simultaneously tearing my hand free of the lance's cursed grip, for I could feel my blood being sucked out of my wound as if the lance were a vampire. With several of the nerves and tendons in my right hand severed, I can't use my right hand for combat for most things, meaning that I'm effectively one-handed, so I thrust the two fingers of my left hand downwards, aiming for the Lancer Servant's left knee to cripple him back. It connects, and my Touchknife pierces the pants and digs into his knee, but it doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything dangerous, like I didn't even hurt him.

Out of the corner of my eye while I'm attacking the Lancer Servant, I see Jalter raise her hand at me, and I feel a familiar burning sensation gathering right on my exactly location. Knowing what's about to happen, I push off my feet to disengage, and the Lancer Servant does the same, skidding backwards to safety as the area we were in belches a tall column of fire.

But the enemy Lancer doesn't relent.

"I demand blood...!"

Hissing a malicious cry, he darts forward with a single stride, swinging his weapon one-handed with his right hand with an overhead strike to plunge the blade right into the middle of my head and scoop out my brain, and he moves with such swiftness that I can't disobey my first instinct, which is to parry the incoming attack. But the closer hand is my right hand, the same hand that I used to punch that same weapon whose blade is about to kill me, but since I don't have the luxury of time to think about which hand I'm going to use to parry, the right hand it is. I raise the back of my right hand against the incoming blade, where it's going to strike me in the forehead, and when the blade is just about to cut through my hand, I detonate a powerful burst of invisible mana for the parry.

The result is, as you might expect, bloody. The sudden burst of mana wouldn't be a problem under normal circumstances, but having a four-inch deep cut into your hand through your knuckles isn't what I'd call a normal circumstance, so as a result, blood practically _explodes_ from my wound, and the parry itself is horribly botched in a way that when I parry the hit, the lance is deflected to my left rather than stopped in place, which is what's supposed to happen. Not only that, but the lance continues downwards and stabs me in the left shoulder, though thankfully my parry was strong enough to negate most of its forward momentum and only chew into my shoulder slightly, not four inches like last time.

"Kill him, Berserk Lancer! What the fuck are you doing?!" I can hear Jalter screaming behind Lancer, speaking in heavily accented English, just like Jeanne.

While she's screaming, I knock the lance that's lodged in my left shoulder this time back out with a strong knock of my left arm before my adversary has a chance to grind it down even further, but Lancer takes an elegant step back and thrusts it twice at my midsection in an attempt to skewer me, but this time using my left hand, I parry both of them easily, negating them and denying them of opportunities to damage me. It's at this moment when Lancer gets smashed in the side of the face by a flying boat shoe - or whatever the shoes that Tamamo wears are called - courtesy of, you guessed it, your resident foxy waifu.

Even while Lancer goes skidding along the ground from getting kicked in the side of the face, I flash-step behind Tamamo as she lands, crying out to me to stop engaging the enemy by myself and darting back in straight for Jalter, who angrily lashes back and swings her own dark standard like a spear at me to deter me. This time, rather than parry it, I outright catch it with my hand, and even though it slams against my palm with enough force to break an ordinary human's hand, that kind of blunt pain can't outmatch the kind of piercing, hellish pain that my bloody right hand is throbbing with right now.

"Wh-What - "

Jalter attempts to rip her standard out of my hand - which she does, because I just let go of it the moment I notice that she wants to take it back. So she vastly overcompensates for my resistance to hold onto it on my own and loses her footing, stumbling backwards, which spells a huge attack of opportunity for me. Pumping my left hand with explosive mana, I aim for Jalter's face as I step in and drive my knuckles into her right cheek, just underneath her eye.

Fueled by the pain that's throbbing in my head, I'm unable to properly control the mana I stuff my fist with to strike Jalter, so I end up creating a moderately more powerful explosion than I was intending, which rocks the street and engulfs me, Jalter, Lancer, and Tamamo briefly.

"Master! ! !" I hear several of my Servants scream my name - er, rather, my title - and I know I've put them all in a rough spot by directly involving myself in the fight and getting hurt, no less. But Lancer is still a threat, both to me and Tamamo, so as he gets up from the ground swiftly, I snap in his direction with my left hand to create another explosion on his area, forcing him to back off further by disappearing into a burst of blackish purple mist and reappearing closer to Jalter to make sure that I can't get another sucker punch in.

"Behind us!"

At Tamamo's alert, I notice one of the enemy presences approaching me at rapid speed, and without thinking, I dash to the side, skidding to stop my dash momentum as the enemy Saber servant attempts to thrust her rapier through my back, which makes her a terribly easy target for Tamamo's wrath.

 _"Don't you dare - !"_

Getting a bit physical herself, Tamamo conjures up her mirror and just chucks it at the enemy Saber's head, slamming it against her, on the _edge_ , no less, and bouncing off. Stunned and dazed, the Saber Servant staggers, and Tamamo, glaring with immense killing intent, turns her body while raising her right leg to kick her adversary in the left cheek when she tries to recollect herself to concentrate on Caster, except Tamamo's leg is nowhere near the enemy Servant's face, yet the kick still smashes its target anyway with a light purple blast of energy. Tamamo then proceeds to give him/her the hundred legs treatment, repeatedly battering him/her with almost telekinetic kicks before slamming her leg down with an axe kick, thereby pummeling the Saber Servant's face against the ground.

Just as Tamamo puts the enemy Saber in the dirt with enough force to kick up chunks of gravel and dirt from the street around the enemy Saber's face, the Servant with the magic staff appears before us, retreating back to the Lancer and Jalter in a bloody mist. A brief scream follows, and a gust of wind propels the final enemy Servant backwards to have her join the others.

"You - ! All of you, step aside!" Jalter snarls violently, yanking out the sword that's at _her_ side, just like the one that's at our Jeanne's side. Jeanne gasps at the sight of this, and in response, she darts forward to join us with both hands on her battle standard.

"I won't let you, the other me!" Jeanne shouts as the flag on her standard begins to glow gold while flames begin to circle counterclockwise around Jalter's body and feet.

"Let's see you try, you pathetic excuse of a Saint!" Jalter shrilly cries back - in English, mind you.

Without regard for either of them, something stabs itself into the ground in between us, which catches the attention of both sides. We all take a moment to see what it is, and it's a rose - made of glass.

"This is not elegant...nothing about this is. So much death and destruction...for you to cause all this, perhaps it has never once crossed your mind to try to be a little bit more free and not chain yourself to the creed of chaos?"

Before the enemy Saber Servant steps, seemingly out of nowhere, yet another short girl, though admittedly taller than most of the other girls here, wearing a sleeveless red blouse that looks oddly plastic for some reason, a short excuse of a black skirt, and outlandishly luxurious leggings that, at an angle, almost look like white metal riding boots. I just don't know what's going on with what's she's wearing on top of her head, though.


	38. Counterreaction

"And who the hell are _you_ , now?" Jalter snarls back, still in her accented English, as she was addressed in English first, stepping forward to confront this new Servant who simply giggles quite amicably, given the situation that we're all in.

"I should ask the same of you myself, but unlike you, I know who you are, thanks to the conversation that you two had with each other," the new Servant says, also in daintily accented English. " _Zut alors!_ So this is what it means to announce oneself as a hero of justice...oh, I'm so excited, I'm so excited ~ "

The new Servant, clearly giddy with excitement, as if her own words didn't indicate that enough, trembles and clasps her cheeks like an overjoyed schoolgirl who can barely keep in her hype.

"Enough of this...!" Jalter hisses through her clenched teeth, and she reaches for the sword at her side.

I react more quickly as soon as I see her reach for her holstered weapon: swiftly drawing one of my Desert Eagles with my good hand, I snap it up to rest the iron sights over Jalter's chest and pull the trigger, firing to interrupt her. However, the enemy Servant with the cross-staff smashes the bullet that I shoot out of existence, the mana composing the bullet getting pummeled so hard that it disintegrates as though it were a tangerine getting hammered out of the air.

Tamamo also reacts to the sight of Jalter reaching for her sword, and she immediately hurls a set of eight talismans towards all of our enemies in general that detonate into a multitude of elemental effects, some fireballs, some icicles, and some bursts of sinister purple mana.

"Master, she's about to use her Noble Phantasm!" Jeanne screams at me, and when I turn to her, she's clutching her standard so hard that I feel like she'll snap it in half soon, but more importantly, the banner on her standard is once again glowing bright gold. "Get near me, quickly!"

Sure enough, I feel an intense surge of magic energy coming from Jalter's position, and as if that weren't indication enough, the enemy Servants have retreated behind her, as if to give her space, after they block Caster's attacks. Matthew feels this energy surge as well, and when I dash over to Jeanne to join my Servants, who're all huddling closely around Ruler, Matthew steps up next to me, bravely slamming her shield in front of us.

"Deploying Noble Phantasm!" Matthew positively shrieks, gritting her teeth in preparation of the enemy Noble Phantasm that is to come. _"Lord - Chaldeas!"_

 _"Luminosité Eternelle!"_

Jeanne also cries something in French at the same time, and they both deploy their Noble Phantasms in rapid succession after one another - Matthew's giant blue mana shield erects itself before us first, and then whatever Jeanne does causes the ground around all of us to suddenly begin glowing with bright gold light that intensifies before swallowing all of us whole, just in time before Jalter in the distance ahead of us screams back while holding her own battle standard that is now burning wildly in her hands,

 _"Le Grondement de La Haine!"_

The bright light from Jeanne's Noble Phantasm cuts off my vision so I can't see what's about to hit us, though I can hear the whooshing and screaming of flames as they seem like they're passing right by us without even touching us. The light itself lasts for roughly twenty seconds before fading away, and when I look around to see what's just happened, there's a giant scorch mark shaped like a funnel that expands towards us that's still sizzling and burning in a couple places, while everything behind us is just...gone. Whatever was standing behind us is now razed and smoldering, if it hasn't burned itself down to the ground already.

"Heavens, it's a good thing I decided to join the party before I got my own ass burnt by that!" yet _another_ familiar voice chimes in, though this time it's a different accent, something that's, surprisingly enough, _not_ French, and when my Servants and I turn around to see who's joined us now, we find this tall guy who's almost six feet tall standing in our midst behind the _other_ new Servant whom we haven't learned the name of yet.

"Wolfgang, didn't I tell you _not_ to say such crude things already?!" the first new Servant scolds the second new Servant, who's wearing a huge black coat with yellow, purple, and green designs and a purple coat cape around his waist. His hair is a wild mess, though - in an orderly, yet unkempt manner.

...why does everyone here except for me have light-colored hair?

"My apologies, my dear Marie, but that time it really was appropriate - "

Marie? The name Marie Antoinette immediately pops into my head, but since my knowledge of French history is admittedly quite lacking, I hesitate to assume that this is indeed Queen Marie Antoinette, though I suppose you could argue that she's the most famous (or infamous) one.

"If you've got time to spout nonsense, then you've got time to attack them! Make yourself useful already and use your Noble Phantasm back on them, or something!"

"Ah, yes, yes, very well - " This second new Servant clears his throat before announcing grandly, "It's time for a public performance! _Requiem For Death!"_ _  
_

Before us, a set of bright light-gold angels flash into sight, all playing various orchestral instruments in the direction of Jalter's side of Servants. I recognize the tune - it's Mozart's Requiem in D Minor. Guess I know who this is.

Sharp screams come from Jalter's side of things, as several of the enemy Servants have collapsed under the exposure to this music that's being directed at them. Jalter manages to stand strong, but only just, as she's trying to hold her hands over her ears without dropping her standard.

"Master, allow me!" Saber Alter requests, her Excalibur Morgan already brimming with her dark mana.

I nod. "Let 'er rip!"

And so surging forward, Salter crunches her left boot into the charred ground, and Mozart, seeing her step forward, deactivates his Noble Phantasm just in time before Salter unleashes her own Noble Phantasm.

 _"Excalibur - **MORGAAAAAAAAAAAN!"**_

Swinging her dark blade upwards over her shoulder almost like she's swinging a baseball bat, Artoria Alter cascades the burnt street of La Charite with immense waves of dark prana that wash over the enemies all together, causing the ground to quake underneath its colossal pressure. And, curiously enough, just like Artoria's own Excalibur Noble Phantasm, Salter's tsunami of dark mana consolidates in the area of her targets and explodes upwards, creating an evil pillar of energy that rockets up into the sky like a beacon of hopelessness and despair. It continues to spiral upwards into the sunset sky even when the tidal waves of dark energy have passed, slowly dispersing on its own while trying to linger in existence for as long as possible before it finally fizzles out.

But even long before it does, Salter sets her corrupted sword down into the ground with its tip again, as usual, and with a scowl on her face.

"They have escaped," she grumbles, clearly disappointed that they didn't stand their ground and continue fighting.

" _Fantastique, fantastique!"_ the first new Servant (not Mozart) exclaims, clapping her hands together. "It seems that for now, we have chased away the forces of evil! We're off to a good start, aren't we, Wolfgang?"

"Much better than what we felt that we would have when we first found ourselves summoned, that's for sure," Mozart sighs with relief, fixing his coat curtly. "But one enemy still remains, and she's been staring at you for quite some time, Marie."

We all glance down at the enemy Servant who's still here with us, the one Tamamo kicked the crap out of when she tried stabbing me in the back, still lying on her belly on the ground and, sure enough, gazing up at Marie with wonder.

"Perhaps she has taken a fancy in your behind, Marie?" Mozart wonders aloud, without even batting an eyelash.

"Th-There is nothing wrong with my behind, thank you very much!" Marie blubbers, quickly turning around so that she eliminates the possibility of the enemy Servant actually staring at her ass.

"Well, there wasn't anything necessarily _wrong_ with it, if I may be more specific - "

 _"No one ASKED you to be, Wolfgang, now please, hold your peace!"_

Since it's clear that it'll take those two a while before they can actually focus on the task at hand by themselves, I approach the enemy Servant on my own.

"What's your name?" I ask her. Not demandingly, but firmly, to get the point across to her that unlike Mozart and Marie, I'm not one to fool around as much.

The enemy Servant sits up promptly.

"They...they call me 'Berserk Saber'," she (?) says, and judging by her voice, she certainly _sounds_ female, but her androgynous looks don't exactly help.

"Mkay."

Before I continue this discussion, I throw my left hand up into the air to perform another Comsat Scan, scanning our vicinity to make perfectly sure that the others have left us for good so that we can have this talk in peace.

"Master, hold still, I'll take care of this..."

While I'm scanning our vicinity, Tamamo takes this time to mend the deep wound in my right hand, which, from my fingers down, looks like I've dipped them in a can of blood-red paint...except it's most definitely not paint. Sharp pains dart up my arm from my injured hand as Tamamo treats it with magical first aid, but all I do is wince at them a little before concluding my scan.

"Now that you mention it..." the Servant named Marie gazes down at Berserk Saber as she bends her knees to level herself with the enemy Servant whom we've inadvertently captured, "...you do look familiar, _Mademoiselle_ Saber. Pray, tell me your True Name, and I shall tell you mine." Marie suddenly giggles to herself. "Y-Yes, let us do that. Let us exchange True Names, just as though we were exchanging letters as young maidens!"

"Um, T-True Names shouldn't be exchanged in that kind of a manner..." Matthew mumbles awkwardly, not sure if she should interrupt here.

"Erm, well...if you insist, I'm not sure if I have any other choice, really..." Berserk Saber sighs lightly. I should also note that her (?) voice, too, is spoken with a French accent, so at the risk of offending those who have a pet peeve against people who assume nationalities on the basis of accents, I can only assume that she herself is French, just like Marie and Jeanne. "My True Name is Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont...but I understand that that is a bit too lengthy for anything that is not related to court matters, so please call me Le Chevalier d'Eon instead."

But even before d'Eon finishes saying her longer True Name, Marie is already looking quite pleased and excited, as if she wasn't already excited when she joined us a few moments ago.

"And my name is Marie Antoinette, Queen of my dear King Louis XVI," Marie smiles quite radiantly down at d'Eon. "You must have recognized me, my dear d'Eon. You had plenty of chances to attack us, yet you did not because you recognized me, yes?"

Bashfully nodding, d'Eon averts her eyes like she's not worthy of looking at Marie back in the eyes.

"...even if I have been summoned as your enemy, I refuse to raise a hand against you or your friends," d'Eon declares quietly. "That I will not do. I would have committed countless atrocities against my own country due to this accursed method in which I was summoned, but - "

"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but for the sake of knowin' what we need to do next, there's still a lot of catchin' up we need to do, and you two can talk later once we've gotten ourselves all acquainted," I cut in at a time that I think is at least somewhat appropriate for me to chime in. "I'm August, and I'm the Master of these Servants around us." I gesture to everyone except for the newcomers.

"August? As in the month?" Marie asks brightly. It's like her face is perpetually locked in a smiling expression. "My, my, what a beautiful name, August. But I suppose I should call you 'Master' from here on out, yes?"

"Either is fine, to be honest. And you're Mozart," I nod over at the guy with the wild light blonde hair.

"Yes indeed! You have good observation skills," Mozart beams.

"Er, no, Marie just called you 'Wolfgang', and your Noble Phantasm involved your Requiem in D Minor, so - "

"Oh ho! Not just _any_ Master, but one who is a student of my music? Can you believe it, Marie? A Master who knows about my work!" Mozart also goes full _squee!_ over the fact that I know the music of his Noble Phantasm by memory.

"Yes, yes, may he remember your music more than he remembers you," Marie smiles with absolutely no sign of animosity. "Anyways, Master, I hope that our entrance was well-timed, as it seemed that you and your Servants needed assistance?"

"We could have handled them ourselves just fine," Salter growls in a low voice, the only one in our party who is outwardly transparent about her displeasure at seeing Marie come in and interrupt what could have been a ferocious battle.

"Alter, now is not the time," Artoria growls right back to put Salter in her place while Marie also turns to Jeanne.

"I overheard your conversation with that other Jeanne," Marie says to our Jeanne. "You may not know of me, but I know of you, Jeanne d'Arc. I'm most honored to be able to meet the Saint herself in person...a meeting that I myself never even considered until now."

Jeanne also averts her eyes, unable to help her cheeks turning red again. "I-I'm no Saint, my Queen. I'm just...I'm just an ordinary village girl."

"An ordinary village girl who led French troops to victory against the British and helped the Dauphin claim his rightful throne? If that is what ordinary village girls of France do, by God, imagine what all of the village girls of this country could do together!" Marie exclaims, jokingly, of course. "Well, except for the fact that unfortunately, it appears that the Dauphin whom you helped claim the throne is now no longer with us, his life taken by the hand of someone who claims to be you, my dear Jeanne. And together with the fact that Wolfgang and I have also been summoned into a past version of France that is clearly not how any of us knew of it, I suppose this is the reason why Master and his Servants are also here as well?"

"That's correct, Lady Antoinette," Matthew nods firmly. "What's going on here is a magical crisis that we call a 'Singularity'. What we know is that France is under attack by dragons, zombies, and skeleton soldiers that are terrorizing the land, and that the other Jeanne whom we have just fought against is leading them and her own contingency of Servants to facilitate the destruction of this country, and possibly even with a Holy Grail at her disposal."

"Oh dear...that's no good, that's no good," Marie shakes her head, finally dropping her perpetual smile for a sad frown. "And you all are here to help resolve this issue, then, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then by all means, allow us to join you!" Marie's smile bounces right back as she happily steps forward to me, with Tamamo, who's done healing my hand, grasping my right arm defensively, as if she doesn't want Marie to steal me away from her. "Though, just be careful around Wolfgang. He makes a lot of...crude jokes that are, more often than not, very inappropriate..."

I tilt my head in puzzlement. "...that's it?" I ask her.

"Well, it's just that I just can't stand them sometimes!" Marie pouts rather cutely, which reminds me of Tamamo whenever she's going full pout mode too.

"Don't you worry about my jokes, Master. Marie has had to deal with them for much longer than anybody else, so that's why she is making a fuss about it," Mozart chuckles heartily.

"It would not be a problem if you simply did not make them in the first place!"

"Oh, now you're just exaggerating, Marie."

I glance down at Berserk Saber while Marie and Mozart go at it again. "So...you said that you don't want to fight against Marie or her friends. I guess, just to make absolute sure, do you consider us Marie's friends, d'Eon?" I ask, and she nods.

"Now that you are the one whom the Queen considers her Master, I cannot go against her decision," d'Eon states, having stood up at Marie's insistence. "I understand that you may not trust me because only moments ago I was your adversary, but I wish to fight with you now, dear Master."

"Er, sure, that's fine, but I just wanna know for sure that you really aren't gonna do anything to us, and if we can't do that, then I'm not so sure if - "

"Master, try to establish a contract with Lady d'Eon," Matthew suggests. "I noticed that the other Jeanne didn't have any Command Spells, at least none that I could see, so even if she was the one who summoned them, she may not have complete authority over them as a normal Master should have, and after all, this is still a Holy Grail War, no matter how different it is from a standard one."

So I decide to give it a shot. I extend my hand towards d'Eon.

"Just shake my hand; that seems to be enough to establish a contract," I say with a conspicuous degree of incredulity, since even I still find it hard to believe that all I need to do in this Holy Grail War to induct new Servants into my command is to just have a handshake with them. But d'Eon takes it in stride and firmly shakes my hand, with two hands, even.

"Ooohh...!" she gasps slowly with much relief. "Th-The Mad Enhancement that was forced upon me during my summoning...it seems that it has cleared up...!"

"Huh? Wait, but...but how?" Matthew, upon hearing this, steps in, very much so confused at d'Eon's claim that her Mad Enhancement skill has been cleansed simply because she's entered a contract as my Servant. "Things like Mad Enhancement can't be removed so easily..."

"D'Eon is not meant to be summoned in the state that you had met her," Marie chimes in. "She ordinarily has no such Mad Enhancement. So while I myself cannot say for sure, I believe that contracting with a proper Master has restored her to her original state."

"But..." Matthew still isn't convinced.

"And normally, Servants switching Masters is supposed to be a really situational thing that only rarely ever happens, if I recall correctly," I add to support my self-proclaimed underclassman. "Even if this is an odd Holy Grail War that's going on..."

"But whatever is truly going on, we know now that Master has the power to contract with even enemy Servants, so long as they are willing," Artoria points out. "Naturally, some will be more difficult to convince, but from here on we should strive to capture any enemy Servant we encounter."

"Capturing..." Salter turns even more sour, scowling harder than ever at this notion.

"We don't know how big the enemy forces are, if those're the only Servants Jalter's got or if she's got more - " I respond to Salter's skepticism, but d'Eon jumps in.

"The corrupted Jeanne d'Arc is using the Holy Grail at Orleans to generate the wyvern armies that have been terrorizing the country," she informs us, immediately reminding me that now that we've got her with us, she can basically tell us everything we need. "As for Servants, the Servants you fought just now are the only ones she has managed to summon. There _is_ another Servant, but it appears that she did not summon him, and his name is Gilles de Rais."

"G-Gilles...?!" Jeanne blurts out in surprise, unable to contain herself. "He is...?!"

d'Eon nods sadly. "Yes...he is aiding the corrupted Jeanne in her plans to burn the country to the ground. She appears to be treating him as her second-in-command, of sorts..."

"Is he perhaps the mastermind behind it all...?" Lily asks timidly as usual.

"Mastermind? Hm, now that you mention it..." d'Eon considers. "The corrupt Jeanne seemed to treat Gilles with more, erm...'respect' than the rest of us, though I'm not sure how appropriate my use of the word 'respect' was just now."

"Just knowing what she's like from what little we've seen from her, that's gotta say a lot about this Gilles fellow, doesn't it," Tamamo frowns.

"For now, everyone, let's head to that forest nearby. It's a bad idea for us to be talking out here in the open in the middle of a battlefield..." Matthew suggests, and we all chuckle at our insensitivity and follow Matthew, who leads us to the forest over where Roman's detected a strong leyline for us to rest near.

* * *

"I've been thinking," Jeanne says aloud as Matthew uses her cross-shield as an examination platform so that Roman and Da Vinci can study the leyline near which we're camping out for the time being more closely.

"What's up?" I ask her. We're all sitting around on logs again just like last time, though Marie is sitting on a glass horse that's sitting down on the dirt with us. Apparently one of her powers is to create objects out of magic glass, which explains the glass rose that she tossed in between us to stop the fight.

"This...this is still a Holy Grail War, correct?"

"As far as we know, yeah. A really, _really_ weird one, but...still one nonetheless."

"I see. So knowing this, we know, thanks to the confirmation provided by Mademoiselle de Beaumont - "

"Ah, just...just d'Eon is fine, Lady Jeanne," d'Eon quickly corrects her.

"I-I'm sorry - provided by d'Eon," Jeanne rectifies herself, "we know that the other me - uh, dark...Dark Jeanne - ugh, this is quite confusing. Master, I'm sorry, what did you call her before?"

"I called her Jalter," I say simply. "Short for 'Jeanne Alter', since we have another Alter Servant with us." I point over to Salter.

"Jalter...then I shall call her that too. We know that Jalter possesses a Grail, which she is using to create wyvern armies to bring ruin to France. If this is truly a Holy Grail War, even if it is a distorted one, if someone is already in possession of the Grail, that means that either the Holy Grail War is already over, or it hasn't even started yet in the first place. And if the War was over, none of us would be here - at least, none of us Servants who were summoned specifically into this Singularity, like myself or Lady Antoine - "

"Just call me Marie as well, my dear Jeanne," Marie says cheerfully.

"I-I'm sorry! Uh, M-Marie, and...and Monsieur Moza - "

"Just call me Mozart, my dear," Mozart echoes Marie, even giving her the same kind of smile, and most of us let out amused chuckles as we watch Jeanne go red a third time in a row.

"Today's...today's been a long day..." Jeanne sighs heavily.

"It most certainly has..." Artoria agrees. The two of them are, incidentally, sitting right next to each other, so their facial similarities are all the more apparent.

"But anyway! The point I wanted to make was that despite the fact that the Holy Grail is here in form in this Singularity, Servants like myself or Marie or Mozart have been summoned here anyway. My hypothesis for this kind of a scenario is that the Grail is reacting to its premature possession in unlawful hands by summoning us as a sort of countermeasure, of sorts. After all, Rulers like myself are summoned when the Grail feels that its jurisdiction is being threatened and that its own actions must be taken to prevent it."

"But that's not what happened in the Singularity we handled before this one," I shake my head in disagreement, inspecting my right fingerless glove that I've put back onto my hand, even though it's still stained with my own blood and its fingers, thanks to the cut that I ended up inflicting on myself when I punched the enemy Lancer's blade. "Salter was in possession of the Grail, but we had to step in to handle that situation by ourselves, pretty much. Well, I say 'by ourselves'..." I put up air quotes with my fingers, glancing at Matthew, Lily, and Artoria.

"But that Singularity appeared once before. Jeanne's theory could be true, because we met Cu the first time it showed up," Matthew deliberates. "Cu was perhaps fulfilling the same role as Marie or Mozart or Jeanne as the Grail's reaction to being in premature possession, or whatever it's being used for."

"But you didn't meet any Ruler-Class Servants the first time around, did you?" I ask Matthew, who shakes her head.

"No...the only friendly Servant whom we met was Cu Chulainn. We didn't meet any Ruler-Class Servants the first time around..."

"Though, to be fair, this Singularity seems like it's already a lot bigger than the first one you guys're talking about," Tamamo says, grooming her big fat fluffy tail with a comb that I don't recall her ever carrying with her on her person. "If Miss Saint's theory is accurate, maybe it also depends on the scale of the Singularity itself?"

"And you lot don't even know how the Grails came to be in the first place, or how they ended up in these so-called Singularities..." Mozart muses. "How very strange."

"Yes, that's part of the reason why we're here," Matthew nods. "To find out how these Grails got here so that we can better understand the nature of these Singularities."

"Wonder if it's even accurate to call it a Holy Grail War anymore," I murmur aloud.

"Well, if we wanna be technical about it, we're still fighting over the Grail, yes?" Tamamo points out, though she doesn't look very happy when she says this. "Even though I have my own thoughts about it..."

"To finish my thought, if the Grail has summoned Servants like us to counteract the Servants summoned by Jalter, then there is likely a chance that the three of us are not the only ones summoned to combat the unlawful possession of the Grail," Jeanne concludes. "So I suggest that we try to search around for more Servants who have found themselves summoned into this Singularity and do not know why they have been summoned. Once we locate them, we should explain to them the situation we are currently facing and have them join us to fight against Jalter and her own forces."

"That's fine, but the problem with that's that we'll need to scour the whole country just to find if there _are_ any more," I reason. "We had that problem earlier today; we tried looking around for towns and villages where we could figure out more about the enemy forces, but this one was the first one we found that actually got us any information at all, and that was only because we fought the exact person we were trying to gather information about. So if we're trying to look for more Servants, granted, that's a bit easier than gathering information, but we'll still need to split up and try to search for them manually. There's also the problem of time management, if we'll even have the time to spare to go around looking for people before Jalter herself decides that it's time to really step things up and set France on fire - "

I suddenly feel someone enter our vicinity, but only barely. It's like a hundred and fifty meters away, but it's still enough for me to notice it and deem it a potential threat. Because at that range, if I can notice that presence, it's not exactly trying to be sneaky.

Swiftly standing up and pulling out my MK-17 from its storage rune, I face the direction in which I've felt the presence enter the forest, smack off the safety, and pull the trigger once.

"Show yourself!" I call over into the forest once my rifle report dies down after echoing against the trees around us. "Or we can go out and hunt'cha down, either way's fine with me!"

A few minutes later, into our line of sight walks one of the Berserk Servants who was with Jalter. It's the one with the regular cross-shaped staff and the pelvic curtain that shows off the sides of her glamorous and well-toned thighs.

"Hello, everyone," she coos rather pleasantly, though there's something off with the smile that she greets us with. "This is a fine evening for us all, don't you think?"

She doesn't have a French accent in her voice. How strange.


	39. Incompatibility

"So...as I was saying, my True Name is Saint Martha, but you can just call me Martha."

We're all sitting back down again. The forest that we were in is, well...how should I say...half of it is gone now, because behind Martha, the Servant who just attacked us, lies a heavily armored and heavily smoldering beast, panting heavily and coughing at times.

So I mentioned her accent...to finish that thought, she has a perfectly normal American accent. Why that is, I'm not sure - is it because her name is an English name? Can't be _that_ simple, shit like this never is.

Martha is sitting in front of the huge beast that she almost literally threw at us a few moments ago on the dirt with plenty of bruises and cut marks on her skin and limbs, though none of them are serious and require urgent medical attention. I've already established a contract with her to ensure that she won't attack us again.

"So...sorry, _why_ did you attack us again?" I ask, scratching the side of my head while Tamamo, snapping her fangs at Martha angrily, tends to my left arm that got broken when Tarrasque immediately slammed me against a tree by smashing its paw into my left arm. Blood is slowly dripping down the right side of my head, too, from where it slammed against the tree trunk.

"Ah, yes, allow me to explain," Martha says cheerfully. "The one who summoned me as 'Berserker Rider', the one you call 'Jalter', ordered me to conduct surveillance on you and your Servants to make sure that she knows where your location is to ensure that you were not attempting to give chase."

"Or, in other words, Jalter left you behind so that we'd be more preoccupied with dealing with you rather than going to chase after her, if we'd chosen to give chase to begin with," I interpret Martha's words in a bit of a different way.

"Well, I had originally wished for you all to defeat me, as...being what I am, I naturally objected heavily to Jalter and her evil machinations," Martha scowls as well. "But I suppose being compelled to join you all is another way of...defeating me, I suppose?"

Matthew suddenly claps her hands together. "Lady Martha brings up a good point: in the first singularity, when we defeated Lady Alter, she did not disappear as in the normal appearance of Singularities like this."

"Then what happens if Servants are defeated? Do they join the side that defeated them, perhaps?" Marie asks curiously.

"Well, the opposition doesn't quite have a legitimate Master like ours, so that I'm not so sure about..."

"Probably has something to do with the fact that these Singularities're showin' up in the present-day as psuedo-Reality Marbles or...something," I speculate. "And besides, why get rid of Servants when you can not only deny the opposition of them but also use captured Servants against them?"

"You talk as if Servants are resources, Master," Mozart says benignly, though that mysterious smile on his face may imply otherwise. I don't let it bother me, though.

"I'm a businessman by trade, and I'm sure you know what that means," I reply quietly. "Put simply, it's easier for me to process things in my head by viewing everything at my disposal as resources. But at the same time, that wouldn't be a completely fair analogy because this isn't a business, this is war. And resources like Servants aren't exactly something I can treat as 'expendable'. That's just called mismanagement, and you let mismanagement run rampant in your business, your business fails."

"And you are confident that you won't mismanage this little war of ours?"

"Doin' my best. I'll admit that something like this where I've got..." I look around to silently count up all the Servants now under my command. "...nine whole Servants with me and willing to do whatever I ask 'em is a new experience for me."

"Clearly! You're still going out there fighting like you don't even need us!" Tamamo vents hotly at me right in my left ear, not afraid to raise her voice at me.

"L-Lady Tamamo, please, Master is...!" Lily tries to come to my defense, but she falters when she unwittingly draws the focus of the conversation to herself and realizes that all eyes are now on her. "U-Um...he's...I'm...I'm sure that...he - he's more used to, uh, g-going out and s-solving problems on his own..."

"Lily is right, Caster. As his Servants, we must respect his jurisdiction, and moreover, it is clear that he is skilled and knows what he is doing. He has fought enemy Servants like us and has survived every single encounter; does that not mean something to you?" Artoria articulates her younger self's argument more clearly.

"But to the point where he's constantly getting injured in every one of those encounters you speak of?" Tamamo demands to know, jabbing a finger in the direction of my broken arm that she's mending with her magic. "In just a span of thirty minutes, both his hand and his arm have sustained wounds. What's next? His heart? His head?"

"But it doesn't seem like Master himself is raising a fuss at all about his wounds," Mozart notes. "He doesn't even blame it on his own Servants and takes them in stride. Perhaps I could be incorrect about this, but personally, your average human Master would typically have more... _expressive_ reactions to having a four-inch-deep cut in their hands."

"That's right, Tamamo," Marie nods wisely, or in a fashion that gives her a wise image. "It appears that Master is very strong. Or perhaps it is more the case that you are more accustomed to Masters who are not nearly as strong as he?"

Tamamo immediately jumps up to her feet at this, glaring deathly scarily down at Marie while both of her hands begin fuming with sinister dark purple mana.

But before she can open her mouth to start laying into Marie verbally, almost as soon as she jumps up to her feet, my left arm darts up to follow. While it is healed now, thanks to Tamamo's magical first aid, pain still lingers because the nerves in the healed area haven't had time to calm down yet, so I feel another piercing jolt of pain stab up from my left arm as I grip her right wrist tightly.

"Sit down, Caster," I murmur firmly, not even looking up at her. Tamamo doesn't listen to me initially, but eventually she slowly plops herself back down next to me on the log that we're sitting on. When she does, I clear my throat and take a look around. "Think now's a good time for me to, uh, tell you all how it is that I go about business, both in civilian life and during times like these: I just kinda do my own thing, to be honest. And what I mean by that is, for the most part, if I wanna fight, I'll fight. Artoria said it perfectly, I've grown up with a 'do-it-yourself' mindset in life so I'm always thinking about how to solve a problem with my own ability. And like I said to Mozart earlier too, this is the first time where I have all of you to give orders to and work and fight with and all that, and for a guy like me who's always had to rely on himself, that's obviously gonna take some getting used to. So, in other words," I turn to Tamamo, who's just staring down at her lap with a heavy but silent scowl on her face, "you're gonna have to deal with me doing some pretty stupid shit sometimes. And yeah, I'll get hurt for it, or worse, and I'll be making all of you worry about me, but since it seems like having you all with me's not something I can change for a while, from what it looks like, I'll be doing my best to make sure that we can all fight together in a way that's okay with everyone."

"Really only the fox seems to have an outstanding problem with this," Salter notes, and when I look over at her, I feel like Salter almost looks...smug?...about my little speech that I've made just now. Why does she look smug? Must be my imagination.

Tamamo fires off another repugnant look at Salter, which I can physically _feel_ because it's loaded with a murderous intent. Not quite killing intent, but only one or two steps removed from it.

"But at this rate, we're gonna get more and more Servants under our wing, assuming that we can keep everyone alive by the end of this, which I don't guarantee, by the way," I let everyone know. "So there's just bound to be more Servants who might agree with Tamamo and object to me fighting alongside all of you when they think I shouldn't. That's why I said this was a good time to make myself clear on where I stand on, y'know, fighting with everyone."

Now that that's out of the way, I turn back to Martha. Tarrasque seems to have calmed down from our fight, so he's now listening intently to us, though whether or not he actually knows what we're talking about is another story entirely.

"So anyways, where's Jalter and her crew headed off now?" I ask her.

"They are currently returning to Orleans, the capital," Martha answers crisply, now free of the Mad Enhancement that was forced upon her just like it was upon d'Eon. "What she plans to do next I do not know, but likely she will want to consolidate her forces and do what she can to impede your - well, I should say our - progress. No doubt that she considers this party here a serious threat to her eventual plans to get rid of this country."

"And do you think that we can challenge her with this group right here?" I continue asking. "Or...we were actually discussing this earlier, but Jeanne over here hypothesized that there's a good possibility that other Servants have been summoned into the country as a sort of countermeasure on the part of the Grail itself to balance out what Jalter's doing. Do you think that we should search around for these possible extra Servants?"

"Your hypothesis would indeed be spot-on," Martha says brightly, perhaps impressed that we were able to deduce this perfectly. "There are in fact other Servants who have been summoned around the same time that we 'Berserk' Servants were summoned to serve that Jalter bit - er, whoops," Martha blushes quickly, "that Jalter lady. As for whether or not you all here can defeat her, I would say that you could potentially outmatch them, but there is a caveat."

"And what's that?"

"Jalter has in her possession a great dragon named Fafnir that she uses to terrorize the countryside and burn villages and towns to the ground; after learning of this party who is a match for her own Servant forces, perhaps more now, she will most certainly put him to use the next time we meet. That dragon is nigh invulnerable; if we all were to combine our efforts to taking it down, perhaps it can be done, but the more conventional method to slay it is to rely on the power of a designated Dragonslayer Servant, and one such Servant has been summoned, perhaps as a direct response to Jalter summoning Fafnir to do her bidding. His name is Siegfried, and if I recall correctly, he should be residing in the city of Lyon."

"Siegfried...you mean to say the legendary dragon slayer?" Artoria asks with quite the spike of interest. "He has been summoned into this Singularity as well?"

"Yes. d'Eon and I know this for a fact because we encountered him there, after it seemed like he had fought a hard battle. Because we had no orders from Jalter at the time regarding stray Servants, we simply let him be, as he suffered grave wounds."

"Grave wounds...how long ago did you meet him?" Lily asks urgently, the sound of a wounded potential comrade not sitting well with her at all.

"This was not even a day ago; remember that this Singularity, as you have elected to call it, is very much so new. If we move now, we may be able to recover him in time before he succumbs to his wounds," Martha says, speaking slowly as she carefully chooses her words after some thought.

So I get back up to my feet, and at the sight of me getting up first, all of the Servants around me also stand up with me, if they weren't already standing up. In Marie's case, she doesn't have to, since she's seated on her glass horse that hoofs the ground a few times instead.

"Then let's pick up Siegfried," I state the obvious as I consider where Lyon is on the map, if I remember correctly. "Lyon is...south, somewhere, isn't it?" I turn around and uncertainly point in the general direction of south, wherever Lyon is.

"Yes, it is almost directly south. You know so much about France, Master, I'm impressed!" Marie chimes in cheerfully and optimistically as always, clasping her hands together at me.

"No, I just studied a map of France for like fifteen minutes before we got here - "

"More to the point, how will we get there? I can't keep flying people around on my mirrors, that just takes too much mana, and now that he's got so many of us, I really can't be siphoning mana from him all the time just to get us around," Tamamo reminds us.

"If Master doesn't mind, Tarrasque has space, though I hope you don't mind riding a dragon," Martha smiles awkwardly. "But there's not enough space for everybody..."

"If transportation is what we need, I can provide that easily!" Marie declares with her usual royal flair, and with a simple wave of her hand, she magically conjures a small herd of glass horses just like the one she's seated on. "It's alright if you don't know how to ride. Though, it'd be nice ~ "

"The three of us possess the Riding skill, so we will be able to ride without a problem," Artoria gestures to herself and her other selves.

"I received a little bit of riding training during my time in the army, so I think I will be fine..." Jeanne says hesitantly. "...I think."

"Then I suppose I am the only one with no riding training whatsoever..." Matthew sighs.

"Worry not, _Dame_ Matthew; I have learned to ride, so you may ride with me," Mozart says elegantly, though naturally this nets him an earful from Marie, who goes,

"Don't you be trying to make those kinds of jokes to an innocent girl like her, Wolfgang! With me it's one thing, but to someone else - !"

"My dear Marie, I didn't even mean to make one, and it was an earnest gesture of assistance. Perhaps my incessant indulgence in propagating inappropriate jokes has planted a seed in your mind as well?"

 _"There you go again! Bad Wolfgang, bad! Bad! Bad!"_

While Marie hops off her horse to tell him off, Tamamo and I follow Martha over to Tarrasque while the others mount their glass horses, courtesy of Marie.

"Master, I may need some of your mana to help regenerate Tarrasque's condition," Martha requests.

"You can do that?"

"In my case, yes, because Tarrasque is actually my Noble Phantasm, so I am able to care for him just as I would my own body."

That sounds like a case of loophole abuse, but I'll reserve my judgment for now.

"Master, are you really okay? You're up to nine Servants and they're all consuming mana from you," Tamamo reminds me. "And now you're letting her use your mana to heal her dragon, and that's gonna take a lot. Normal Masters like you should be just about flopping over right now! And it's not like anyone's really performing at a huge deficit!"

I turn to Tamamo, slightly exasperated over her constant babysitting.

"I _would_ take this time out to tell you that I'm doing fine, but you're making it pretty clear that you're not gonna listen to me anyway," I mutter, looking away again as Tarrasque lets out a bit of a roar and stands back up to his feet after being restored.

"Are you holding it in? Or maybe you're trying to force yourself to keep going?" Tamamo continues to pore over me, and she starts inspecting my face like a nurse at a clinic, checking my eyes to see if she can detect any acute exhaustion or sleepiness. "That's not good, you know! And plus, it's almost about to be dark, you should be taking this time to get some rest rather than to search for another Servant who'll probably die off tonight anyway, given the description Martha gave!"

I just give Tamamo an understanding (not) smile before promptly jumping up onto Tarrasque, using some mana to give me the boost that I need to reach.

"O-Oi! Master, you - !"

Tamamo immediately soars up after me, as does Martha.

"We all good to go?" I holler down at everyone else who's mounted their horses. "Then let's get goin'!"

 _"Master, you're not even LISTENING to m - "_

Tarrasque lurches forward without warning, and Tamamo, squealing a little, latches onto me to avoid falling right off.

* * *

The sound of Tarrasque's great paws (Feet? Hooves? Claws?) thump against the ground like a steady percussion line in a song, a song that's otherwise composed of wind generated from air friction and the galloping of glass hooves. The last vestiges of the French sunset are well on their way to descending beneath the horizon, chased off by the dread of the night that is to follow that'll take firm hold of this land for the next twelve hours or however long it'll stay.

Caster is still clinging onto me, but more to use me as a handlebar so that she doesn't have to worry about being seated properly on the back of Tarrasque. She's acting much differently than she was back at home, when she'd raid my bed every night. I suppose now is a good time to try to smooth things over, but I'm not sure if I can, because whatever I say, Tamamo won't be pleased to hear. But at least if I speak now, if something does happen to me, I'll know that I had a chance to try to explain myself...even though I feel like I've already made it pretty clear why it is that I manage things the way I do.

"Tamamo," I call out her name to test the waters. She doesn't reply verbally, but instead she squeezes her grip on my left jacket sleeve. "You still mad at me?"

After a while, she finally speaks.

"I'm not mad."

"You're mad at me."

"I'm not mad."

I'm not an expert in female human psychology, but no way in hell I'll believe that. But at the same time, it's also clear that Tamamo doesn't exactly want to waver from her own mental position in regards to me. So I'll have to make her talk.

"Martha mentioned how maybe you didn't have Masters as strong as me in the past, and you reacted pretty poorly to that. Just goin' out on a limb here, but I'm gonna assume that you don't agree with her. Is that true?"

Tamamo stays completely silent during the time that I ask her this question, and she leave me hanging for a good ten minutes or so. For my part, I only wait for her to give me a reply for about a minute before simply assuming that she's in no mood to talk and leaving it at that.

"You sure are tactless when it comes to speaking to girls, huh, Master?" she grumbles.

"Might I remind you that, as a person who's mostly grown up by himself and has gotten used to a lifestyle in which I really only ever need to worry about myself and not necessarily about interacting with a bunch of other people at any given moment in time, I don't exactly have the best social skills," I say pretty dryly, letting the sarcastic, sharp side of me bleed out into my voice. "And might I also remind you that I've never tried keeping that a secret, either. Hell, you could probably even tell whenever I've spoken to you or the Artoria's back at home. I only really speak when spoken to, mainly, or if I do talk to you girls, it's for the sake of being polite."

"Tch."

"Why 'tch'?"

"Because...!" Tamamo raises her voice, but then she stops and calms herself down first. "...because...now that you've told me something like that...that just naturally means that...you're just letting me act how I do towards you because you're putting up with me."

"Well, first I'll say that anyone would find it a bit weird to have someone they'd only just met immediately start going all waifu 'n shit over them. Maybe that's not strange at all to you, which is fine, there's nothing inherently wrong with that alone, it's just that in the beginning, I certainly didn't really know what to do with you or what to make of you until I got used to it."

"Hmph. You certainly are quick to adapt to things."

"It's a good life skill to have, I'll say that much."

Caster tightens her grip around my left arm.

"Then how about now? I know that...we still haven't known each other for too long, but...you did say just now that you didn't know what to do with me earlier. How about now?"

"Like I said, I'm just more used to it, since I recognize the fact that this is just how you are."

"...but do you not like the way I act? I don't think anyone would totally object to the idea of having someone take care of them like a wife would..."

"It's not that I don't like it, but it's that, again, for the third time, I've always led an independent kinda lifestyle."

"No, I get that, but you said just now that you're good at adapting quickly to things."

"Yeah, but some things I have more trouble adjusting to or adapting to more than others. This is one of them. Having you care so much about me is something that I'm not exactly totally comfortable with yet. I'll admit...you're not wrong, that I'm putting up with you. Because if I were to try to call it anything else, I'd be lying, and I don't like lying to people I care about."

Tamamo doesn't say anything, so I'm free to continue.

"So...whether we like it or not, the two of us have...I guess, incompatible mentalities. You want to take care of me because that's what you want to do, but I wanna handle things my way - as in do things on my own - because that's how I've always done things. The difficult part here is that neither of us're willing to change on our own. I could just use a Command Spell and tell you to be a little less protective of me so that I'm more free to keep doing things the way I've done 'em so far this Singularity, but I have a problem with that since I don't like telling people I care about what to do, especially things like this, so I'll never do that. But in my experience, handling things on my own's always been the best and most efficient way to get things done. So we need to find some sort of...medium, some sorta compromise. I don't know how we're gonna reach that point, or if we ever will, but either we can keep letting things like what happened earlier when we were talking with everyone happen and affect the whole group or try to accommodate each other as best we can."

Tamamo takes a few moments to process everything, though I'm sure she doesn't need _that_ much time. She's probably just choosing the next words she wants to say to me.

"Well...if you insist that much..." she murmurs slowly. "...but...I certainly hope that doesn't mean something along the lines of you wanting me to just distance myself away from you, because that's not what I'm gonna do, just so you know."

"Oh, no, this is a mutual effort. I've been trying my best on my end, too. Why do you think I've been letting you heal my wounds, starting with the time I came back home with a broken arm? I could tend to my own wounds just fine, but you're better at healing than I am."

"B-Because you just want a cute foxy waifu like me to tenderly tend to your wounds, mikon ~ " Caster tries to reason, but I just give her the are-you-serious look.

"Even if my personal healing is nowhere near efficient or quick as yours, I much prefer healing myself since that's what I'm used to," I mutter to her. "I _do_ hope you know I'm not kidding about that."

Tamamo's fox (jackal) ears fold over as I tell this to her.

"...yeah, I know..." she gripes under her breath. "... _unfortunately_..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, _mikon ~ "_

I still heard her anyway, but I don't comment on it.


	40. Search and Rescue

**A/N:**

 **Nightgale912: When you create OC's that are the do-it-yourself types in settings where you're normally supposed to have everyone else do the work for you, that's an inevitable outcome. In other words, your review is akin to saying that you don't like my OC/you don't like how I like creating my OC's. And as you should know, seeing that you said you read A:AFS, my argument there is the same here: if you don't like the OC, there's nothing I can do for you, as that's a stylistic thing rather than a mistake with the writing itself.**

 **Hell, I even gave you a clear-cut warning in the beginning of this story too because I knew there'd be people who'd have problems. If you feel like you're reading the same thing over and over, maybe it's time to diversify.**

 **Beyond that, speaking in broader terms, problems that people have with each other aren't solved in one chapter or one encounter. I really didn't think I should feel the need to have to tell you that, but I guess here we are. I'd like to state now that, in case this wasn't made clear with my writing style, I try to make interactions between characters as organic as possible, "realistic", even, though how realistic is subjective and ultimately up to you, the reader. And when a problem occurs, you'll see it show up repeatedly because people are generally stubborn and don't want to admit that they're wrong, creating tension and hostility, particularly a problem that's rather important, as is the case here.**

 **And, yes, this also shows up in my other fic quite frequently, but it's just as important there too. In this sense, Kantai Collection and FGO are pretty similar, as in both games you occupy a role that's more of a commander rather than, for example, a ship girl or a Servant who's doing the bulk of the fighting for you. And when a fanfic writer like me changes that core concept by implementing main characters that don't just sit in an office or some futuretech facility telling their minions what to do all day or stand behind them and issue them orders from afar while the minions go off and fight the baddies for them, this exact problem you take issue with will rear its ugly head, one way or another. Because of this, I just don't see how, with the selection of OC's that I've chosen to go with, this theme that you're so tired of seeing can be avoided, because it can't.**

 **In which case, more than likely, you'd resort to the argument that I should stop writing these kinds of overpowered OC main characters to circumvent this problem, and I'd tell you to start back up from the top. See where I'm going with this?**

 **Yes, I understand how you find it so tiring to have to read about. No, I'm not gonna change it because I think that in this kind of a setting, that's how it should be. And besides, even if you've seen it a thousand times in another one of my fics, not everyone else who's reading this fic has.**

 **¯\\_(ツ** **)_/¯**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

It's full night when we arrive in Lyon, which, not surprisingly -

"Just as I said on our way here, this place is gone," Martha murmurs as the three of us riding Tarrasque peer into the city limits.

The city is, without a doubt, ransacked and ruined. Well, "ransacked" probably isn't the right word here when loot and riches aren't exactly the goals of Jalter and her forces when all they're interested in is burning everything in France to the ground. Razed is the word that I'm looking for, but even then it wouldn't be accurate, as quite a few buildings are still left standing. Admittedly, though, the ones that have survived are stone buildings that have been able to better resist the effects of fire that have clearly doused this town with impunity, judging by the soot and scorch marks that've turned the ground into the same shade of black that you'd get when you accidentally let meat cook for too long and start burning or singing it.

"Looks like there're some still hanging around," Tamamo warns us as we all hop off Tarrasque, as do the rest of the Servants off their glass horses that Marie immediately dissipates as soon as we arrive, which Martha does with her own dragon as well, both to help conserve my mana, I presume, even though I don't feel too bogged down still.

"I'll stick with you for this one," I tell Tamamo, much to her relief. "Martha, do you know where Siegfried might be? You didn't actually fight him, though, right?"

"Nay, we did not do battle with him personally. He was valiantly trying his best to defend this town, but without a Master like yourself or even any effective allies besides the few French soldiers who were posted here to guard the city, there was only so much he could do against the hordes of zombies and skeleton soldiers and wyverns we sent here to destroy the place," Martha shakes her head. "I would not be surprised if he has been finished off for good whilst we were away."

"Then I'll find him...or I'll try to."

Raising my left hand back up into the air, I perform another Comsat Scan to try to pick up magical signatures in the area, but due to the relative weakness of my detection spell, all I pick up are a bunch of slowly wandering signatures within the destroyed city, presumably the zombies and skeletons that Martha and Tamamo talked about just now.

"Can't pinpoint his location, too many trash mobs in the area," I tell my Servants.

"Trash mobs...?" Lily asks innocently.

"Er, sorry, enemies. We'd have to start clearing them out before I can pinpoint where Siegfried's at a little better."

"This city is large. I advise that we split up to cover more ground," Artoria suggests.

"Yeah, let's do that. Artoria's, take the west. Marie, Mozart, d'Eon, and Martha, take center. Matthew, Jeanne, you're with me and Tamamo. Let's go."

"Understood," Matthew nods her confirmation, and the eleven of us venture into the town of Lyon in ruins.

Matthew, Jeanne, Tamamo, and I walk through a ruined street in silence, surveying the damage while being on the lookout for enemies, whom we know we'll run into. I've prepared already for those occasions, walking with my MK-17 SSR out with the magical silencer rune attached at the end of the muzzle again so that I can silently take down enemies for us without attracting a large crowd of even more enemies like zombies...wait a minute.

Jokes aside, I glance around my little squad. Tamamo is looking around sharply, as if daring anyone to appear before us and attack so that she can rip them apart with her talismans and magic-infused martial arts. Matthew is tense and on edge, as she has every right to be.

But Jeanne is neither. Instead, she looks solemn and somber, not exactly walking with a posture that would implicate that she's ready for a possible ambush that the rest of us are half-expecting while walking down a street that's completely torn up in some places and scorched to the core in all the others.

"You doin' a'ight, Jeanne?" I ask her quietly and slowly, so that my voice won't accidentally scare anyone, since the crunching of boots and soft clinking of metal equipment are all that we hear. There's not even any wind blowing tonight.

"Yes, Master. Thank you for you concern," Jeanne nods, replying softly. "It's just that...all the towns and villages we've visited today, every one of them has been..."

"...like this," I finish her thought for her, and she nods in confirmation.

"I just can't seem to comprehend why anyone would do this," she shakes her head. "Even after the talk that I had with the other me...Jalter, I believe we're calling her...I just...don't know."

"Of _course_ you wouldn't know, Miss Saint," Tamamo says in a low, terribly matter-of-fact tone of voice that I personally don't like.

"Again, Mademoiselle Caster, I am not the Saint that you say I am."

"It really matters not," Tamamo replies curtly, suddenly adopting a much more formal tone out of nowhere for some reason. "You're just _sooooo pureeee_ that a such a pure and innocent girl like you'd never understand because you're incapable of that in the first place. So why even bother trying to understand?"

My kneejerk reaction to this conversation is to immediately stop Tamamo and ask her why the fuck she's talking to Jeanne like that, because it's not like Jeanne's done ever done anything to her to warrant receiving this kind of an attitude out of Caster, but I control myself to see what develops of this conversation and perhaps even learn a thing or two that I might find interesting. I'm not exactly banking on that, though.

"I do try to, but...you are possibly right," Jeanne shakes her head sadly, conceding to Tamamo on that argument. "Perhaps it is just because I'm just too naive to truly grasp why people would commit atrocities of this extent. After all, I am just a village girl who took up arms when God told me that it was time to save this country. I was a village girl when I became a soldier, and I died a village girl when I was burned. I fought in the name of saving France, an ideal I always held. I suppose holding onto that ideal was what prevented me from growing as a person..."

"Hmph..."

Surprisingly, Tamamo says no more. Maybe Jeanne unwittingly stole all her thunder with that one brief monologue.

"Even still, now that you are a Servant, I think that there's still room to grow," Matthew tries to encourage Jeanne, choosing to sympathize with her rather than try to scorn her like Tamamo was trying to, or so I think.

"But I was under the impression that Servants normally cannot..."

"Well, this _is_ a strange Grail War, so maybe things are a little different..."

Jeanne shrugs. "Perhaps. I suppose we shall see. Master, enemies dead ahead, entering the intersection."

"Yeah, I see 'em."

The girls stop with me as I take aim with my marksman rifle and zoom in with the magical optics to acquire the pair of zombies shuffling slowly into the intersection ahead of us before squeezing the trigger twice.

"Anyone got a read on where Siegfried might be?" I ask the girls, since Tamamo more than likely has a better detection sense than I do of other Servants.

"Not yet," Matthew shakes her head.

"How's it goin' on your guys' ends?" I murmur into my comms rune to speak with the other Servants.

 _"No favorable progress yet,"_ Salter answers, surprisingly.

 _"We're still looking, Master ~ "_ Marie calls over in a sing-song voice.

"Gonna take a while, huh..." I murmur to myself as I take aim again and gun down another small squad of skeleton warriors with silent shots.

"More to the point, we should _really_ get some rest for Master after this, we've been up and fighting and traveling around the country without so much of a rest..." Tamamo sighs, casually tossing a talisman ahead to knock over a shuffling zombie soldier before I can take aim at it to put him in the dirt for good.

"We'll get some rest after this. Let's just make sure to handle this town as carefully as we can so that we don't get another army of wyverns on our asses again," I say calmly, not even _thinking_ about getting into another argument with Caster again, as I don't think I'd have the patience for that at a time like this. It's been causing some problems in more ways than one.

But when I raise my rifle to aim at another target, suddenly I feel a slight chill. It's a familiar chill - a small but clear sign of unnatural killing intent that mere zombies or skeleton warriors aren't capable of making.

"Someone's here," I alert the girls, who put up their guard at my notice. "Anyone see anything?"

"No...not on my end," Matthew replies.

"Servant Detection...Servant Detection..." Jeanne hisses to herself under the concentration, and I feel a minute amount of mana bleeding out to feed Jeanne so that she can utilize her Servant Detection ability in her suboptimal summoning state. "There! Dead ahead, on the street! Whoever you are, show yourself!"

I can barely make out a shadowy figure in the darkness ahead. Mind you, we're wandering around Lyon in the dead of the night, and tonight isn't particularly bright, no thanks to the moon not being full or anything. I do have very good natural night vision, as I've gotten used to operating in the dark, but not to the extent where visibility is less than a dozen meters out in front of me.

"Very good, very good - the fact that you have sought me out must mean that you, too, wish to join this place, this world that has been frozen for years..."

"Who are you?" Jeanne calls out. "Again, I must ask you to identify yourself!"

"Identify myself...very well," this feminine male voice calls back out to us as Tamamo throws out handfuls of talismans that sail around us and shine with light purple light to illuminate the darkness, which also happens to attract the attention of nearby zombies and skeletons, as if our loud shouting weren't enough to give us away. When the light floods our vicinity, we can see a man with exquisitely groomed straight black hair and wearing this weird and creepy-looking half-mask levitating a few inches off the ground like a ghost. "People call me 'The Phantom of the Opera', and by the order of the Dragon Witch, whom you, my lady, appear to resemble quite closely - uncannily closely, as a matter of fact, and I do not know what to make of it. That being said, this town is under my absolute control, and now - now, now, now!"

Phantom lets out a long, probably overly-dramatic sigh.

"This - now this, this is the middle of hell, where the dead live." He gazes back at us as the zombies and skeletons now start to charge at us. "What will you d - "

Even as he's talking, I pull off the silencer rune from my rifle, raise it up to aim my magic optic on his face, and squeeze the trigger. And the magic bullet I throw at him slams right into his face, square in between the eyes.

"You didn't even let him finish talking?!" Jeanne exclaims in surprise, watching Phantom reel backwards heavily and clutching at his face.

"I have no reason to," I snort just before emptying the rest of my gun's magazine at him. This Servant doesn't seem to have very good agility or reflexes, so I end up hitting every single shot and force him to grovel on the ground. So much for being a Servant, I guess.

"Toh!"

Dancing around us and throwing talismans everywhere, Tamamo singlehandedly and animatedly takes down all the enemies trying to assault us, and when Phantom tries getting up from the ground, I just snap my fingers in his direction and cause a decent explosion to bloom right on top of him, throwing him backwards even more. I then pull out my AX-50 sniper rifle, take aim yet again, and fire, putting a .50caliber energy bullet into his chest that explodes on contact with him, slamming him back down against the ground once more.

"Well, at least he was a bit weaker than the others," I murmur anti-climatically, working the bolt to load the next energy round. "Wish all Servants could be like him."

"That's a bit too hopeful of a wish there ~ " Tamamo reminds me.

"Yeah, you don't say."

"N-Not...not yet...!" We hear Phantom crying out in the distance, and he struggles to get up, coughing and bleeding from the sniper rifle shot that I've put on him. I guess being a Servant counts for something, since a normal human can't walk, let alone stand, from taking a wound like that. "My mission...is...is accomplished, though...I shall never be rewarded... _NEVER - !"_

We hear a terrific neighing from the right of Phantom (our right), and an equally terrific slam of hooves against the ground echoes through the night street as a tall glass horse lands from up high right onto Phantom, trampling him like a cataphract.

"Master, this enemy Servant wasn't causing you much trouble, I hope?" Marie calls from the distance above the now-still Phantom, who's been silenced underneath the trampling of glass hooves.

"Nah, he just kinda showed up outta nowhere so we put him down," I call back as we hurry over to Marie to regroup with her. "Where're the others?"

"They are en route to our position after sensing this Servant here. Did you find any signs of Siegfried?"

"Not yet either on our end."

I quickly switch on the comms rune.

"Everyone hold positions, we've taken care of the enemy Servant. Keep scouting for Siegfried," I order everyone, glancing down at the still Phantom.

"Is he dead...?" Matthew wonders aloud, gazing down at him. He certainly doesn't seem to be moving, and he sure as hell isn't breathing.

"Alas...it appears that he may be," Jeanne whispers, almost mournfully looking down at our two-minute adversary. "...but that's very strange. Why is...why is he not disappearing...?"

"Disappear?" I ask.

"Yes. When Servants are defeated, they will disappear."

"What, Servants can't bleed or anything?"

"They _can_ , but upon taking enough damage or feeling that their purpose has been fulfilled, they will disappear from this world and leave no trace of themselves behind," Jeanne elaborates. "But...this Phantom is not only dead, but his body still remains, because he has not yet disappeared. Why...?"

All five of us stare down at Phantom's trampled body, his mask shattered where my sniper rifle bullet smashed his face in.

"...Master, you don't think that, perhaps..." Matthew slowly begins, "...Servants...are...somewhat different in this Holy Grail War itself...?"

"As in, once you die..." I begin.

"...you leave your body behind for all to see."

I turn to Matthew.

"...and how exactly is that a concern?" I ask, scratching my head.

Matthew doesn't say anything, as if at a loss for words.

"Servants should disappear when they are defeated, Master," Marie repeats for me softly - and if someone like Marie's got that kind of tone, there's something definitely significant about Phantom's death that I just don't understand due to my novice level of Mastership.

"Let's try not to die, then, hm?" I reason with a simple shrug.

"Says the Master who's gotten injured on three separate occasions today!" Tamamo screeches, causing the other girls to chuckle awkwardly.

"But I wasn't trying to die, though - "

A loud groan interrupts us from a building near our location, a groan that doesn't sound like it's made by a shambling zombie or skeleton warrior, not that skeleton warriors can make any vocal noise without any vocal chords.

"A survivor!" Matthew exclaims as we all immediately head towards the groan to investigate.

"Or Siegfried," I alternate.

"Let me lead the way, in case it is a trap," Jeanne insists, and we follow Ruler into the partially-collapsed building, which seems to be some kind of library of some sort, given the fact that torn, scattered, and burned books are lying amok amidst the debris and collapsed rubble.

In the atrium, we find a tall man robed in black and with silver armor pieces, though strangely they only protect his limbs and shoulders at best, which, for a swordsman like him, judging by his immense sword that's even taller than he is, is rather self-defeating, as you should really try to protect your whole body with armor, not just your limbs. But I guess Servants play by different rules, so what do I know. He's laying against a fallen and broken bookshelf, propping himself up against it - it looks like he's just woken up here or something, as he's clutching at a deep gash wound horizontally etched across his chest, over the glowing teal emblem that looks like a scar burned right into the center of his chest and torso.

"Found him," I communicate to the others remotely as Jeanne and Matthew hurry forward to secure our package.

"Siegfried!" Jeanne shouts, and Siegfried opens one weary eye, immediately clutching his giant sword and trying to scramble up to his feet to face us.

"Guh...one...one after another..." he groans sharply, trying to assume a defensive stance with his blade, but Jeanne approaches him anyway, lowering her standard.

"What a terrible wound...Siegfried, stand down! We are not your enemies, we are here to help!" Jeanne pleads with him.

"Not enemies..." Siegfried pants, as just the effort of standing up pains him greatly, and he lowers his sword. "And it's you, even..."

"You recognize me?" Jeanne asks, surprised at this.

"Somehow, yes...ugh!"

Siegfried falters, and Jeanne reflexively lurches forward to catch him.

"Friends from another Holy Grail War, I presume?" I ask the two of them.

"Er, yes, by the looks of it..." Jeanne gives me an awkward smile, setting Siegfried back down to the ground. "Though..."

"Servants aren't supposed to remember what they'd done in previous Wars," I finish for her. "I guess we're blaming this weird Grail War right now, then?"

The Servants slowly nod, though I presume this is because no one really knows the correct answer to this in the first place. Jeanne examines Siegfried's wound in the meantime, as does Marie.

"Don't..." Siegfried huskily breathes, raising a hand to block Jeanne's. "...this...this wound is cursed. I don't...know how...ow."

"Cursed..." Jeanne murmurs. "Allow me to perform a few Baptism Rites. I may be able to cleanse the curse..."

"Hey, that's going to use up even more of Master's mana isn't it?!" Tamamo objects, but I raise a hand in front of her.

"Don't worry about me," I shake my head quickly, and Jeanne proceeds with the Baptism Rites. Magical circles fill the vicinity, as does Holy Light, as Jeanne administers the Rites for Siegfried, but after a few minutes, Jeanne deactivates the holy runes and shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, Siegfried, it seems...it seems I really was summoned in a weakened state," she sighs defeatedly. "I can't lift this curse."

"Can we at least patch his wound up? Or is the curse the wound itself?" I ask.

"It's the wound itself, Master," Marie frowns sadly. "If Jeanne was able to lift the curse, I could use my Noble Phantasm to stitch his wound up at least somewhat. But for now, the best we can really do is bandage it."

We all stand in place, silent as we think of what to do.

"Tamamo, you can't heal that?" I ask her, just to be sure, but she shakes her head too.

"Eastern and Western magical healing techniques differ too much fundamentally for me to lift a curse. Healing is no problem, but it's that curse, whatever it is," she answers.

"Well, shi - "

 _"Master, we are sensing a huge presence approaching us at high speed from the northwest!"_

Artoria's urgent voice graces our ears, snapping us out of this concerned state.

Siegfried, for his part, grimaces darkly.

"...it's him," he grits his teeth worriedly.

"Who?" Jeanne asks.

"Fafnir."


	41. Interruptions

We emerge from the partially collapsed library with our newly recovered and wounded servant, Siegfried. Jeanne is helping him walk outside, while the rest of us look up to the sky towards the northwest to lay our eyes upon our new enemy approaching us from that direction. While the low visibility of the night obscures our vision due to there being not much starlight or moonlight, we can nonetheless still barely make out the flapping of a huge pair of wings off in the far distance.

"Hey, Saber-sans, you all have Dragon traits too, don't you?" Tamamo calls over. "Can't you do anything about that?"

 _"We will certainly try, Caster!"_ Artoria responds quickly. _"Master, permission to use our Noble Phantasms once more!"_

At the mention of another use of their Noble Phantasms, Tamamo spins on her heels towards me, facing me with a look of irritated alarm.

 _"No, no, wait, you three!"_ Martha cuts in quickly, as all of us are connected on the same voice channel - for lack of a better term. _"Siegfried must be the one to attack the dragon. Siegfried, can you use your Noble Phantasm right now?"_

"I'll have to," Siegfried grunts, but he's doing a little bit better now that I've established a Servant-Master contract with him and have him connected to my mana flow like everyone else. "You'll have to bait the dragon to approach us, I can't move around very well in my current state - "

"Tamamo, use one of your mirrors to take Siegfried up to the tallest point in this city," I order Caster swiftly. "Artoria's, you three get the dragon's attention and keep it at bay until Siegfried's ready to use his NP. Everyone else, get into positions where you can attack the dragon in case Siegfried can't take it down on his own. Move!"

 _"So do we have permission to use our Noble Phantasms?"_ Artoria Alter asks.

"Not yet, just keep it occupied!" I turn to Matthew as Tamamo is helping Siegfried onto one of her magical mirrors. "Matthew, Jeanne, on me! Let's help find a good vantage point!"

While Tamamo and Siegfried take to the sky on their mirrors, Matthew, Jeanne, and I leap up onto the roofs of what remaining buildings are left to find a place where Siegfried can stand and use his Noble Phantasm, clear of any environmental obstructions. And for the reason stated just now, it doesn't take us very long at all to spot one building that's standing by itself still amidst a town square filled with rubble, perhaps a town government building or a church, it's hard to tell which.

"Over there!" Matthew points for Tamamo and Siegfried, who are hovering close by us, partly because Tamamo doesn't want to let me out of her sight, which is understandable, I suppose. In the distance, a large jetstream of flame erupts out of the dark sky down towards the ground, splashing the northwest district of the destroyed city of Lyon with draconic wrath.

"Start doubling back to us!" I yell, in case the Artoria's have a hard time hearing me over raging flames of the giant dragon. I think I can see someone riding it up top, but I can't be sure, and I don't particularly care at the moment.

 _"Yes, Master! Ow, hot, hot - !"_ Lily cries. I can hear the heavy clomping of metal boots as the three Sabers disengage from the torched area.

Glancing to my right, I see Siegfried, having disembarked off his mirror, prepare his Noble Phantasm, standing straight and tall as much as he can, though he's still visibly struggling with the pain of his wound. Despite it, subtle but large wisps of almost neon red aura are emanating off him, rising like heat from a fire, much like the flames that're raging to the northwest.

"Master, remember that you can use your Command Spells to help power up a Servant," Matthew reminds me. "It might be a good idea to power up Sir Siegfried. Your Spells recharge one a day anyway, so - "

But I'm not so sure. From what little I've studied about the Holy Grail Wars, it's always emphasized that you only get three Command Spells, so even if in this Holy Grail War my Spells are rechargeable, in a sense, I'm still hesitant to use one.

"We'll see what he can do," I shake my head quickly.

"Do you know of Siegfried's legend, Master?" Jeanne asks me.

"Uhh...I've definitely _heard_ of him, yeah, but...I don't know him or his legend in detail," I admit. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no, um...I just find it...amazing that you have such faith in a Servant you've only just met," Jeanne remarks a little awkwardly.

"Well, I'll be honest, it's not so much having faith in him, it's just that if Martha says he's the guy who can kill off Fafnir because of his legend, then we should try that first," I grin darkly.

"But Sir Siegfried is injured, and his wound is cursed..." Matthew murmurs, looking on apprehensively as Siegfried looks just about done preparing his Noble Phantasm. "If he fails, what will we do?"

I shrug a little. "Just kill it, I guess?"

 _"Mr. Siegfried, we're here! Please get ready!"_ Lily announces as the three Sabers meet up with Marie's group down on the streets below first before leaping up to whatever building rooftops they can find. Fafnir, having followed, finds us now and roars dreadfully at us, enough to make our hair get blown back by the wind that's generated from the roar. As expected, dragon breath smells horrendous - I'd much rather prefer the smoky smell of a campfire than this. And upon closer inspection, the one who's riding Fafnir is none other than Jalter herself.

"Fire at will, Siegfried," I order my newest Saber, whose sword immediately begins with glow with power as soon as I give him the green light.

 _"The evil dragon falls, and the world reaches the setting sun,"_ Siegfried chants in a low voice, but perhaps due to the power of his Noble Phantasm, we can all hear it despite how small of a voice he uses to speak.

"Shit, shit! Fafnir, pull up, pull up!" the rest of us can hear Jalter screech even from all the way up there on the huge black dragon.

 _"Felling blow - **BALMUNG!"**_

With one huge downwards swing, Siegfried drops his greatsword like a hammer on an anvil, directing a large arc of energy towards the sky at Fafnir.

Thanks to Jalter's recognition of Siegfried's Noble Phantasm and quick reaction, Fafnir narrowly avoids getting chunked by the brunt of Balmung - but the arc of energy still manages to clip the right side of the huge dragon's abdomen and a good portion of the underside of its right wing. Screaming in pain, Fafnir quickly regains itself before dropping completely out of the sky and turns to fly away, beating its wings, one of which is now only barely capable of providing flight, to escape.

Out of the corner of my eye, though, as we're watching Fafnir fly away, I spy Siegfried slowly sink to his knees and then just collapse, but the weak roof that he's on, which was already heavily weakened to begin with and then further damaged by the collateral damage of Siegfried's Noble Phantasm release, can no longer adequately support his weight, and when he collapses, what with all his armor on (even if said armor isn't even a full suit), Siegfried starts to plunge right through to drop into the interior of the building on which he's standing. Luckily, Tamamo, who's with him, reacts quickly and grabs hold of Siegfried's ankle with what appears to be telekinesis, which would explain how she was able to kick Chevalier d'Eon around even without physically kicking her with her foot.

"Nice catch, Tamamo," I complement her as she brings him over to us, though I reckon it's just an excuse to regroup with me again.

"Thank you, mikon ~ " Tamamo smiles brightly as she sets Siegfried down on the roof with us, and Jeanne sits him up to check on him again.

"Was...barely able to chase him off," Siegfried groans weakly, rubbing his forehead somewhat. "But I can't do that again...not tonight. I'll have to leave the rest to you all..."

"Yes, please do," Jeanne says, looking up at me. "Master, we'll need to find a place to rest. It's late, and I'm sure you need some rest too, not just Siegfried."

"Yeah, sure. Let's get out of this town first, I'm sure we can all agree that this isn't exactly the best place to stay for the night..."

So we move as a group to leave Lyon, now that we've recovered our VIP who is Siegfried. But as soon as we exit the northern gates of the city, or what used to be the northern gates, I sense a small but lurking presence dead ahead, standing in our way, even though I can't physically see anything obstructing us. So I pull out my Keltec KSG-12, slap off the safety, and aim towards the presence, calling out loudly so that I can be heard:

"Who are you, and what the fuck do you want?"

As if like a hologram, the image of a man in a large brown trenchcoat with huge sleeves warps into view, and on his back is a sword that can only be adequately described as a meat cleaver that's trying to be a sword. I wonder how many souls he'll drop if we defeat him.

"A human who can detect my presence...how very interesting," he speaks with a more suave French accent as he pulls his huge sword off his back. "But I must say there is someone else who is of more interest to me..."

"Ugh...damn you!" Mozart swears, and this time Marie is too immediately occupied by this new enemy's presence to scold Mozart for his profanity.

"My, my, what a coincidence, you lazy artisan," Marie rather cheerfully greets this man, which rather goes against her choice of words. "You didn't think that I would ever forget your face, did you?"

The man in the brown trenchcoat that's got weird freaky white epaulettes on the shoulders that look like life-sized knight chess pieces chortles like an evil mastermind.

"Aye, that is good to hear. I would never forget yours, either," he replies. "Your face, your pale white neck...I too, feel like this must be destiny, that you and I share a special conne - "

I pull the trigger of my shotgun.

The pounding report of the Keltec shatters the wind-filled silence around us, and the guy before us, clearly ignorant of modern-day firearms, catches a face full of twelve-gauge buckshot. Stumbling backwards, the man with the greatsword clutches at his face in reaction to the first time getting hit by magic bullets, which gives me a painfully large window of opportunity to close the distance between us. And I do just that - flash-stepping away from my group, I reappear right in front of the hostile Servant, still holding my shotgun with my left hand and driving my runed right fist into the Servant's face when he tries to look up to see what's going on. The Piledriver blasts him off his feet and sends him skidding down the road that leads north out of Lyon for a good seventy meters or so.

"Someone you know, I presume?" I ask Marie, turning around as I reload my shotgun with a single mana shell of more buckshot.

"Yes, he is - "

But before Marie can answer, a hair-raising scream rumbles the ground too, and I notice Artoria and Saber Alter both react swiftly to this scream, as if they recognize it. It sounds out from above me, and when I look up, I catch a glimpse of a flying suit of black and very dark purple armor soaring down towards where the Artoria's are, and despite Tamamo's quick reactions as usual to try to erect a talisman barrier to stop it, the suit of armor just crashes right through it like a baseball thrown through glass. Artoria, the one the suit of armor goes after first, meets it in kind with Excalibur, and the clash of steel itself is strong enough to shatter some real windows if there were any nearby.

"Where are you looking?"

Distracted by the sercond Servant attacking my own Servants, I've let the one I've punched away sneak up on me again, and I leap forward along the dirt road without hesitation, tucking in my shotgun horizontally against my belly so that I can roll over it nicely and narrowly avoiding getting my spine gouged out by his huge greatsword.

"It is quite rude of you to interrupt that conversation I was having with Marie, I would like you to know," the greatsword Servant remarks to me coldly, like he's some sort of Harry Potter character who deserves to be in the house of Slytherin. "For her and I to wind up in the same Holy Grail War...I must take advantage of this ch - "

I don't care to listen to his anime monologues, so I raise my shotgun and pull the trigger again.

This time he expects it, and right when I pull my trigger, he pulls in his greatsword, and the sheer width of the blade covers his whole thin body and take the magic pellets for him. But while he can defend against my shotgun blasts, it doesn't seem like he knows how to properly combat them, either, so I just keep pumping magic shotgun shells in his direction to pin him where he stands as Marie, Mozart, and Tamamo come to my aid.

"Master! That's Charles Henri-Sanson, a French executioner during the Revolution!" Marie exclaims as she reaches my side with Tamamo.

"Marie's executioner, to be precise and blunt," Mozart snarls grimly as I cease my shotgun suppression, courtesy of the KSG's large 14-shell capacity tube barrels. With some of my Servants to cover me, I mechanically begin reloading the shotgun with magic shells that I craft on the spot, but since standard magic buckshot are clearly ineffective, I start crafting explosive slug shells instead and shove them down the shotgun's tube magazines two at a time.

"That is correct. I daresay he has found us so that he may have another chance to execute me a second time," Marie frowns. Marie is a lot tougher than I ever imagined she would be, if she has no qualms both talking about and personally facing the guy who's physically executed her in history. I guess the history books don't tell you both sides of the story.

"What about the others?" I ask, looking behind me over my shoulder to quickly check on how the rest of the Servants are doing. The three Artoria's and Matthew are fiercely clashing with the monstrosity of a Servant, who's constantly emitting shrill but deep war cries while a small personal tornado of dark aura surrounds him all the while.

"They said that they can handle that one," Tamamo answers, glaring at Sanson. "For now, this one first!"

Charles icily gazes at each of us, assessing the situation that he's in now.

"So that is your Master this war, I see," Sanson concludes. "If he is able to command so many Servants at once, then he is certainly not one to be taken lightly. I shall be taking my leave here, Marie, but - I assure you that we will meet again. And that next time, I _will_ take your head once more! Hahaha - "

I finish reloading my shotgun with fourteen explosive slug shells halfway through Sanson's talk, pump the gun, raise it, and then interrupt his talking for the third time in a row, and when he pulls up his sword to deflect my shot, this time, the explosive slug slams into the center of his blade and explodes in a small but potent flash, like a grenade. It pushes him backwards a few feet and leaves a smoldering explosion mark against his sword, and without a further word, Sanson jumps away - or, at least he tries to, because Tamamo swiftly raises her hands up into the air and gathers her mana up into the air right over her like she did against the first set of wyverns earlier today, and once it reaches critical mass, she hurls it forward with a little _"Ei ~ !"_ and nails Sanson right in the back with it. A truly grand explosion punches a hole into the road - well, it doesn't just make a hole, it utterly destroys the section of the dirt path where it detonates, and we can't see where Sanson has gone after he got hit by that.

"I was _gonna_ chase after him, but I guess I won't be doin' that..." I murmur, lowering my shotgun.

"I figured you'd do that, so I attacked him instead ~ " Tamamo smiles cheekily at me, making those hand gestures that are supposed to look like foxes. "Mikon ~ !"

"Ah...thanks, I guess."

"Master, if it's alright for me to ask, do you also have a personal vendetta against Charles?" Mozart asks me curiously.

"No, not really, why?"

"Well, you interrupted him twice in a row..."

"Oh. That's just me not giving a shit about what he wants to say, because quite frankly, I don't need to know what's on his mind. You'd be surprised how full of shit people are sometimes, and all they do is just stand there for five minutes talking about shit that I don't care about."

"So is that how you defeat other mages, Master? Just hit them when they're just standing there talking?" Tamamo giggles, teasing me.

"You act like I'm kidding; I'm not."

Tamamo silences herself, tilting her head a little.

"...eh? Come again?"

"More often than not, people on the magic side 'a things just love talking. I typically don't. Killing people usually does the talking for me on my end." I point over to the Artoria's and Jeanne and Matthew whose battle against the other raging Servant, who I presume is a true Berserker, is still going on and pock-marking the ground around them with vicious slashes and charred scratches while Chevalier d'Eon stands guard near the wounded and cursed Siegfried. "So what do we say we go in and give 'em a hand?"

"Absolutely not! That Servant is very dangerous, he is a true Berserker! You'll get a lot more than just a broken arm if you fight him, I can guarantee you that!" Tamamo exclaims, scolding me like a true housewife, which I guess in her case I can't fault her for.

"Yeah - maybe a broken leg next, who knows, been some time since I last broke it."

"Wait, which one!? And _when!?"_

"Left one, when I jumped off a roof of a hotel last year."

Tamamo just stares at me.

"No, sorry, I just broke an ankle. My bad, I haven't gotten a leg broken before," I quickly correct myself. "I guess I'll know what that feels like in about a minute."

And with that, I take off to join the fight with Tamamo immediately screaming after me in protest. What a lovely reaction.

Knowing that my shotgun probably won't be able to do jack shit against a Berserker Servant with a full suit of armor, I put away the explosive shotgun into its magical storage to engage the enemy with my own two fists. While the Berserker repeatedly slams his weapon, which honest to God looks like he's just ripped out a telephone pole from somewhere (which I assume he didn't get from this Singularity itself), against Artoria who blocks them with some difficulty with Excalibur, Lily comes in with a large shout and drives Caliburn into the abdomen of the Berserker's armor, which does absolutely nothing. What _does_ do something is Salter's dark prana attack that consists of her extending Excalibur Morgan's blade size and cutting in between her original self and the enemy Berserker in between the latter's pole swings and batting the Berserker away, and the Berserker is forced to grind against the ground, straight towards me.

I drive my fist into the back of the Berserker's black helmet with enough force that I physically hurt my knuckles in doing so, despite the fact that I always have a protective barrier that protects my fists whenever I punch someone with magical power - or is supposed to, anyway. I don't quite break them, so at least that's something. Either way, I definitely make myself known as another enemy combatant to him, but all the Berserker does is just stare at me for a moment before just yelling his head off again and leaping back at the Artoria's, specifically _the_ Artoria.

What a unique experience, punching someone and then watching them go attack someone else.

Though, interestingly enough, the enemy Berserker seems to be yelling,

 _"ARRRRRRRRRRTHUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR! ! ! ! !"_

Well, he's been doing that for the past few minutes ever since he's shown up.

This time, Saber Alter gets in his way, and with a thrust of her hand so fast that her arm goes blurry for a split second, she grabs hold of Lancelot's polearm (literally) and tears it right out of his hand, forcing him to concentrate on her for now. Roaring, Lancelot raises both of his fists up into the air and swings them down onto Salter's head in a hammerhead blow, but Lily interrupts him back with a golden arc of mana that pushes him back a little, causing him to miss his swing onto Salter, who hurls his polearm back at him and smacks him in the face with it. Artoria, bursting off the ground, sails past her Alter self and smashes Excalibur against the front of the Berserker's black armor, knocking him backwards towards me again when Tamamo, Marie, and Mozart are just about to catch up to me, and rather than a punch this time, I palm-strike the back of the enemy Servant's helmet so that the energy that I blast out from my palm knocks him over to force him to faceplant against the ground.

And before he can get himself up from the ground, I slam my foot down on the center of the back of his armor, pull out both Desert Eagles from their magical storages, and begin rapid-firing them to dump all sixteen bullets right in the back of his head. Berserker shrieks like before, just without yelling out Artoria's name in its male version, and while I'm shooting, Salter strides forward so that right when both of my pistols click empty, she's in position to deliver the coup de grace with her dark sword, plunging it down right at the nape to sever the head from the rest of the body. The decapitated head of the enemy Berserker gargles disgustingly before falling silent, but like the body of Phantom before, this body does not disappear as it's supposed to, either.

"Everyone alright?" I ask around, looking around too just for my own personal reference. Everyone looks fine, with the obvious exception of Siegfried.

"So much for finding that rest tonight," Mozart remarks, causing us all to chuckle a little with the irony.


	42. Consolidation

**A/N:**

 **It seems this story is being quite well received, and for that, thanks to all of you reading/sharing this fic. As I've been busy grinding the America free quests for all of Jalter's mats, updates have been lacking, and it's about time I took a small break from all this mindless grinding.  
**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Martha, knowing the general area around Lyon thanks to the excursions she'd been on while under Jalter's influence, has led us to a nearby abandoned fort of some kind for us to rest for the night, as Jalter's dragon forces have already purged the area of any conspicuous human life, so it'd be unlikely for them to come back to check a place that they've already swept through. So naturally, when we arrived, we found it utterly trashed, with large sections of the walls simply missing like a doughnut that's got large bites gouged out of it. The Servants do the best they can to ignore the destruction, and we've since done all we could to try to make ourselves comfortable, though how comfortable is a matter of debate. Let's just say that if your concept of comfort doesn't require anything more than a campfire and a broken half of a wooden crate to sit on, then this would be perfect for you. I would have used some of my magic to give us some decent magical lighting, but Tamamo dissuaded me vehemently for reasons that should be obvious now, given her behavior towards me, so now we're all sitting in a circle - a very misshapen circle, but a circle nonetheless.

"There," Martha announces with a heavy sigh, wiping her brow as she sits up straight from hunching over the cursed Siegfried after performing several Baptism rites on him to lift the curse off his wound so it can finally be treated properly. "Lady Tamamo, Lady Marie, if you will, please."

Tamamo and Marie, whom I've instructed to heal Siegfried once Martha was done with her Baptism Rites, take over Siegfried's medical care on their cue. Between the two of them, healing Siegfried ends up being quite quick, as the wound itself by this point is just an ordinary (but deep) chest injury.

"Master, how are you feeling?" Jeanne asks me, sitting cross-legged on the ground to my right next to Artoria.

"Tired," I reply promptly, gently squeezing the top of the bridge of my nose. I really wish there was an easier way to say that.

"That is only natural. Having contracted with six new Servants in a single day..." Artoria notes, looking around.

"And to add to that the five of us who were originally with him at the beginning..." Lily mumbles with a hefty degree of guilt.

"He doesn't have to worry about me, as my status as a Demi-Servant allows me to rely on my own mana," Matthew clarifies quickly, "but...that being said, there's still ten more of us..."

"It's just a miracle that you've been able to sustain us all at once, Master, and this isn't even a miracle I've performed either, unless I did one subconsciously," Martha also adds across from us. "And the only thing you say up until now is that you're tired? You're only human, correct? Surely you must be feeling hungry, or thirsty, or..."

I nod. "Yeah. I'm hungry, thirsty, and pretty tired, but unless this fort has any, which I highly doubt, we don't have any food or water on us since I'm the only actual human here. But I know what being hungry, thirsty, and tired feels like, so I'll be fine."

"If...if that is the case, then perhaps we should scavenge for food," Jeanne suggests a bit timidly. "Hunting shouldn't be a problem, and I think I remember at least a little of how to prepare venison..."

"Er, I hate to ruin that plan, but since the wyverns have passed through this area, that most likely means that whatever wildlife is in the area has either fled or has already been eaten or killed," Martha interrupts uncomfortably, sounding like she's the one to blame for that, perhaps understandably so.

"Then...what should we do...? We can't have our Master go hungry..."

"We'll worry about that tomorrow," I say firmly to everyone.

"Then if you are exhausted, you ought to go to sleep," Salter says in her demanding tone of voice as always. "Hunger and thirst cannot be resolved without food or drink, but exhaustion can be treated with sleep."

"I understand, I just wanna talk about what we're gonna do tomorrow once I'm up. And you all don't need to sleep?"

"We're Servants, Master. We don't need to sleep," Mozart says cheerily as ever. "Of course, we _can_ , but much like food or drink, we don't need to. Though, I suspect it is a little different for Miss Lovely Demi-Servant over here."

Matthew looks away a little awkwardly, not sure how to respond to that title.

"Then I take it that you'll all be staying up, then?"

"Yes. If nightwatch is what you are worried about, Master, you need only to leave that to us," Artoria states confidently.

"Hm, I'll leave it to you all then."

"Master, if I may," d'Eon also asks across from me, sitting with Mozart on the same long wooden weapons crate that probably contained arrows for the soldiers garrisoned in this former fort, or whatever it used to contain.

"Yeah?"

"It is clear from our battles earlier today that you are a Master learned in the ways of combat, so...if I am not stepping out of line, may I ask if you are also a trained soldier, like myself..."

I stare at her for a moment.

"Er - " d'Eon makes the kind of face that means that she's realized she might have made a mistake.

"Quite the personal question you ask there, Knight of the White Lily," Mozart smiles wryly.

"Er, well, no, I - "

"I wasn't a soldier," I shake my head, interrupting her this time. "But...there was a point in my life when I did have to learn how to fend for myself. Lots of trial and error back then." I slowly crack my knuckles, though I don't intend to do this just to make myself look cool, only a mere coincidence...not that anyone will believe that. "But rather than a soldier, I guess you could call me a mercenary instead."

"A mercenary..." d'Eon repeats slowly, and I think I can hear growing intrigue in her voice.

"M-Mercenary..."

I glance over to Lily who also mentions the word, and I see that the Artoria's have reacted somewhat poorly to that, to varying degrees.

"Though, I will say that mercenaries nowadays are different than what they may've been back in olden times," I clarify quickly. "And while I still am a mercenary to this day, I don't do anywhere near the amount of mercenary work that I used to do. I figured that it was just easier to concentrate on my usual day business instead, since working an ordinary job didn't involve me going out somewhere and risk getting killed that same night."

"Hm. That must be why you've been so aggressive in your fighting, especially from earlier," Martha notes, nodding rather sagely.

"Well, you'll excuse me for being really aggressive towards someone who was attacking us while we were resting."

"I didn't know that you all were resting! I would have rather not attacked you if I had known!"

"...you saw us sitting around not doing much, what part of that didn't seem like resting to you?"

Martha doesn't answer, since she's very conveniently interrupted on her part by Siegfried, who groans a little as he sits up, his magical treatment at the hands of Caster and the French Rider complete.

"It seems everything is fine, Master," Siegfried declares softly. "Sorry about all the trouble that I've caused, and I thank everyone who's been able to restore me..."

"Aye, it was the least I should have done for attacking you back in our first encounter..." Martha mumbles guiltily.

"Why, what happened in your first encounter? Pray tell," Marie asks with a healthy mixture of curiosity and concern.

"I and a few other of the Berserk Servants under that bitch - " Immediately cringing at her use of profanity, Martha clears her throat very loudly, like she's trying to manually cleanse her mouth with nonexistent Listerine. "E-Excuse me, um - under Miss Jeanne Alter's influence, or Jalter as you have been calling her - attacked Lyon under her orders, and Mr. Siegfried rose up to defend the city against us."

"But you spared me, and even hid me in that library building and then left," Siegfried mentions.

"Yes, that was because I was resisting the Mad Enhancement that our false summonings had imposed upon me and the other Servants who were also summoned, like Miss d'Eon here." Martha beckons to d'Eon. "I still had my sense of reason and my own identity, we all did. It was simply a matter of to what extent we individually allowed the wishes of the Dragon Witch to permeate our heads. Some, like Miss d'Eon and I, were able to resist it quite well, all things considered, while others, like the Berserker Lancelot whom Miss Artoria has fought and Berserk Assassin, Charles Henri-Sanson, were not able to resist it as well. As a matter of fact, I don't think Mr. Lancelot was able to resist it at all."

"It is more the case that when he saw us, he immediately focused all his efforts on us," Artoria says, though with considerable reluctance. "I cannot say how he may have been like before we encountered one another, but...I can say that about him after we did."

"I see. I'm sorry for having put you through that trouble..." Siegfried murmurs, lowering his head somewhat.

"Well, no harm, no foul, as they say," Martha tries to reassure Siegfried. "Now then, since we have resolved Siegfried's curse situation, what was it that you wished to speak to us about, Master?"

I look around to get another quick headcount of everyone here. Eleven Servants, plus me as their Master.

"We've got a sizeable squad here. While I don't know how strong everyone is, other than the Servants who've already been with me for a little while," I begin as Tamamo eagerly joins my side and conjures up a magic mirror just so that she can sit next to me and not make the rickety crate that I'm sitting on cave in underneath our combined weight, "I imagine that we've got enough manpower to make some moves against Jalter's forces. Martha's already confirmed that the Grail that Jalter has in her possession is located in Orleans, the capital city. The way that we know that'll solve this Singularity is just to take possession of the Grail and then leave the vicinity of the Singularity itself. So what we could just do is make one concentrated assault on Orleans, locate the Grail, take it, and then get the hell outta France."

"I beg your forgiveness for these words, Master, but something tells me that that is a very bad idea," Mozart chuckles in a rather friendly manner, devoid of snarkiness or sarcasm.

"It is, but I think in the simplest terms possible first, so you'll excuse me for that," I respond. "If everyone else thinks it's also not such a great idea, we can work off that and make modifications so that it doesn't sound as dumb."

"You _did_ say that you did mercenary work, did you not, Master?" Salter asks somewhat condescendingly.

"Yes, but not anything like this. Mainly because I never really worked with anyone, much less with eleven other people, and people who call themselves my Servants and will do whatever I instruct them to, at that, so you'll excuse me for _this_ , too, I hope." I immediately reply in kind as, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Matthew's hologram projection activate itself on.

 _"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I just want to add something, if you guys are wanting to talk about what to do next..."_ Roman butts in, but not surprisingly, several of the newer Servants do a few double-takes at the sight of Roman just popping up all randomly in his hologram.

"Er...?" Martha has instinctively grabbed her staff, but she hasn't raised it yet, while Siegfried just eyes it cautiously, though he doesn't do anything, probably because he's still resting from having his cursed wound so recently treated.

"Don't worry, this is a friend of ours, an ally, if you will," Matthew explains quickly. "His name is Dr. Roman Archaman, he's our mission control person - or, in other words, someone who supports us from another location with mission intelligence and other bits of information."

 _"Yep, that's me. I swear I'm totally not suspicious at all, nope."_

"You're not exactly _helping_ , Roman," I say in a low but clear voice.

 _"Ah, yeah, right, sorry."_

"So? What'd you wanna tell us?"

 _"Well, I was just thinking to myself, Jeanne and the others have been summoned without a Master, right? And we discussed briefly earlier that the Grail may have summoned them into this Singularity as its own little self-defense mechanism to balance out the fact that Jalter and Gilles de Rais have been summoning their own Berserk Servants to do their bidding and wreck the country."  
_

"Mhm."

 _"This is just a hunch, but I feel like there may be a good chance that another Saint-type Servant was summoned as part of the Counter Force, in response to St. Martha being summoned by Jalter."_

I slowly start rubbing the bridge of my nose again in the middle of his talking.

"So...you're basically telling us to keep looking around for more Servants," I summarize.

 _"W-Well, I suppose, but - it was just me trying to think things through, okay? Don't be so harsh on me..."_

"Yeah, says the guy who listens to Magi Mari every night for dating and social advice."

 _"Ouch, that actually hurt, August!"_

I just ignore him.

"I suppose we can do that, too," I murmur. "Martha, before we brought you over to our side, do you know if you remember any other Servants you and your guys encountered back when you were still on Jalter's side?"

Martha shakes her head.

"With the exception of Mr. Siegfried, no. And it's unlikely that the other Berserk Servants would have spared any straggler Servant they may have come across like I did to Mr. Siegfried. If there are more Servants who have been summoned as a result of the Counter Force or the Holy Grail trying to defend itself or whichever, then it will be up to us to locate and recover them first before the others do."

I offer no response to this immediately, so I sit on my half-broken crate with my elbows on my knees, leaning forward and contemplating what to do.

"M-Master, you don't need to worry about recovering _all_ the Servants who've been summoned, I'm sure that they can fend for themselves..." Tamamo tries to reassure me, but if I know her well enough, she's not saying that because she actually believes in those Servants being able to take care of themselves.

"Yeah, and then end up like Siegfried?" I ask her, gesturing over to our newest Saber Servant. "I'm aware that Servants are really strong, but unless they somehow all run into each other and band together like we basically are to fight against Jalter's forces as a cohesive unit for their own defense, they're all screwed if they get found. It's either we find them first or we basically let 'em go."

"You must really wish to recover them all, Master," Marie murmurs sympathetically.

I nod. "As far as I can tell from what we've done today, any Servant who isn't on Jalter's side is willing to join us. Even you and d'Eon, who _were_ on Jalter's side, turned coat when you both formed contracts with me. So naturally that leads me to the conclusion that if we reach any Servant who's been summoned into this Singularity before Jalter or her subordinates do, we have a pretty good shot at convincing them to join us. If we lose them, that's potential manpower we won't have against our enemies, which is especially valuable right now because we don't know how strong the enemy forces are in total."

"But wouldn't Mademoiselle Martha know exactly how strong the enemy troops are? Numerically or whichever?" Jeanne points out.

"Lady Jalter never completely divulged the total strength of her armies. But considering her moniker as the Dragon Witch and her ability to constantly summon more and more dragons, especially when she has the Holy Grail that she can rely on for more mana in any case that she needs more..." Martha shrugs widely.

"...it's just best to assume that she has infinite army power," Matthew finishes softly.

"The dragons are just all pushovers, though!" Tamamo pouts. "Why even worry about them? They can just keep throwing them at us and we'll kill them all, easy!"

"I agree with the fox," Salter says, to my surprise - mind you, Salter is still standing while everyone else is at least sitting on the ground or something, still with that pose where she holds Excalibur Morgan with the tip against the ground. "The wyverns and whatever other trash pose no threat to us, especially not to a group like this with eleven Servants who are cooperating with one another. Rather, it is the enemy Servants we must focus our attention on; as far as we are concerned, those enemy Servants essentially compose this Jalter's army strength. Master, for that reason, we should hunt down and exterminate those Servants, or at the very least convince them to abandon their posts like you have with the turtle saint and that Saber."

"Wait, who're you calling a turtle saint!? Tarrasque isn't a _turtle_ , you dumb bitch!" Martha explodes quite strongly, and then she slaps her hands over her mouth to shut herself up. I guess she just can't help that, can she.

"I don't quite approve of you simply calling me 'the fox' either, Miss Alter-san, I _do_ have a name," Tamamo frowns with more conservative disgust at Salter.

"Master, I would like to point out that due to the pattern of our travels across the country, we have more or less scoured the northern and eastern portions of France," Artoria lets me know. "If we assume that any Servant summoned into this Singularity by themselves and not directly into the enemy camp in central France has already been captured and disposed of by the enemy, then I suggest that we search along the southern and western sides of the country, in case there are any other Servants whom we have yet to discover."

I like Artoria's idea, so I nod in approval.

"But at the same time, I feel like we've gotta do something to undermine our enemies' strength or wherever we can. Like earlier today, we'd been taking out skeleton warriors, wyverns, etc., and I feel like we've gotta keep that up," I articulate. "So maybe...part of our group can go around searching for other Servants and see just how many we can end up with, and the other half can go on guerilla missions just to keep Jalter's forces on their toes and let them know that they need to be on the lookout for us." I glance around. "Anybody have a problem with this?"

"Master, you need only give us instructions and we will obey them unconditionally," d'Eon smiles over at me. "There is no problem, sir."

I narrow my eyes slightly at her.

"While I appreciate the sentiment and I don't want to make myself sound ungrateful, that kind of attitude is exactly why a lot of plans that involve large groups of people like this fail, at least in my experience and from what I've personally observed," I explain swiftly. "I'm coming up with this plan because that seems logical for us to do from my perspective only, and keep in mind that I've come up with said plan when I'm tired and hungry, which means that there's probably a good chance that I'm not in the best state to be making executive decisions like this. And there's the virtue of having other people evaluate a plan that I've come up with so that there's no glaringly obvious problem that slips on by. That's why I ask if there's anyone who has a problem with what I've suggested just now."

I look around again. The Servants are dead quiet, with several of them nervously glancing at each other.

"It is a perfectly legitimate plan, Master," Artoria says calmly, not fazed by my self-rationalizing little speech. "I say that we follow through with it."

"Cool." I get up from the box that I'm sitting on. "I'm gonna get some sleep now, so in the meantime I'd like for you all to determine who's gonna do what so that when I wake up tomorrow, we can get goin' right away. If there's anything that you guys come up with, let me know in the morning when I wake up."

As if dropping the mic on them, I step over my box and lie down right there behind it so that the campfire light doesn't annoy me as I try to go to sleep. I pull my cap off my head, pull up the hood of my jacket over my head, and then plop my cap over my face, and I proceed to go straight to sleep. Of course, Tamamo follows me, and when she realizes that I plan to just go to sleep right here on the ground, she protests this decision of mine.

"Master, you can't just sleep out here - here, at the very least..."

Kneeling down next to me, Tamamo pulls out a few talismans and throws them down on the ground around me, and then underneath me, I feel a magical softness that makes the ground feel like a bed of downy feathers, though I personally wouldn't know what that actually feels like, along with a soft and gentle warmth that reminds me of the warmth that you'd feel from a heating pad that you'd put under your sheets in bed to turn on during a cold night or something. And as if these weren't enough, Caster herself lies down next to me and hugs my left arm, as if to provide her own body warmth on top of everything she's provided.

"Master, how does it feel? Master?" Tamamo asks me, but I don't reply on purpose, instead maintaining a slow and steady breath that almost perfectly mimics my breath rate when I'm actually sleeping, and after a minute of observing me, like she's trying to figure out if I'm just pretending to be asleep or am genuinely gone to sleep already, she figures it's the latter and tucks her head in next to mine. Which I don't mind, no pun intended.

"Master really takes things at his own pace, doesn't he?" I can hear Mozart remarking after a full three minutes of silence, save for the crackling of the campfire. "This is shaping up to be quite the interesting experience already..."

"What I'm more concerned about is his mana," I hear Jeanne speak right after Mozart to change the topic. "He gives the impression that he is not an experienced Master, yet he conducts himself like one, both in his behavior and in his magical ability, but perhaps most so about his ability to make Master-Servant contracts with all of us and still be able to keep up with us."

"Granted, we are not using our full power specifically so that we can conserve his mana," Artoria reminds Jeanne.

"I...I suppose that's true. But...still...I find it rather...unsettling, or could that just be me...?"

"While I generally do not wish to talk behind my Master's back, I do wish to say that I agree...that something feels off about him," I hear Martha say.

"Specifically that he has a great supply of mana, but the mana itself is of exceptionally mediocre quality," Salter adds. "I recall it being the opposite for most mages like him. Or perhaps that is merely a change with the times."

"Well, plenty of modern mages are still very traditional in that sense," Matthew says, and Fou goes "Kyuu, kyuu!" in her lap somewhere, before silence ensues before the crackling campfire.

"I hope that Master will be alright with all of us..." Lily mumbles with great concern, enough to make me want to get up and tell her that I'm fine and that I will be fine, though even I don't know that for sure myself. I keep my patience and concentrate on going to sleep for real this time.


	43. A Pair of Dragons

There's a sandstorm tonight.

Environmental changes here don't really bother me. Not because I'm physically immune to the flying sand and all the irritations that they bring with them, but because I just can't feel them. It's strange.

Tucking in my light hoodie jacket, I tip the visor of my hand downwards so that the sand doesn't get in my eyes, though this is just a natural human instinct - sometimes instinct firmly takes control of reason and rationality, and this is true even for someone like me, who strives to be as reasonable of a human being as possible. But I suppose that's just normal - after all, a human being who is rational a hundred percent of the time is physically impossible.

Scratch that, it is, because it exists. We call that a computer.

I don't really know where I'm walking in this sandstorm. It's very dense, so visibility is extremely poor - maybe no more than ten meters or so, I'm not sure. So this is rather akin to walking in complete darkness - darkness that I can see in. Not that I would've had trouble seeing in ordinary darkness to begin with.

It's loud, it's very hot, and it's uncomfortable, even if ultimately I'm not affected at all physically by this sandstorm. But even then, I feel at peace walking amidst it. I like claustrophobic places, and low visibility helps consolidate that feeling - it gives me a space that I can work with and come to know intimately. Knowing exactly the kind of space that I have allotted to myself, knowing the space in which that I walk, and not having to worry about any other variables beyond this little space that I can physically see - not because there aren't any variables beyond this sandstorm, but because there's no point in trying to worry about them with the kind of situation that I'm in now -

\- it's a nice little walk.

There's always the chance that I could walk right off the side of the chasm that I saw earlier and just drop in, and that would be the end of me.

I think.

Well, there's only one way to find that out, I suppose.

I guess while I'm at it, I should try to see if I can't find a random cigarette somewhere, see how edgy I can get. I'm in the mood tonight, and glass shards won't do it.

After what seems like a long while, having walked all that time, the sandstorm finally begins to lift, though it does so at a slow rate, so I have to wait another untold while to be able to see out of the sandstorm with any kind of adequacy. It seems like I've been walking the plateau that overlooks the chasm to the southwest, which is a direction I completely made up because I honestly don't know the directions in this place. After all, if I look up, at any given point in time, there could be one sun, or two, or maybe even three, depending on this place's mood. Not that it really matters.

Another alarm sounds off in the far distance. Another alarm...place must be getting more active. A part of me wants to investigate, but a part of me also doesn't want to. Hm, "doesn't want to" isn't accurate. It's more...leave it alone, and let it run its course. I have no right to interfere, to alter the natural course of this place that can't be described as anything else other than a wasteland.

No one cares if a wasteland gets destroyed, after all. Nothing of value would be lost...

* * *

"Okay, so it's...Marie, Jeanne, Siegfried, Martha, and d'Eon, and me, Matthew, the three Artoria's, Tamamo, and Mozart."

I look around at our respective groups.

"...who in the hell even made these teams?" I wonder aloud with a noticeable frown. This is like looking at teams made by middle school boys in a game of pickup basketball, where one team very obviously has more of the better kids than the other.

"Er, well, we drew lots..." Marie tries to explain.

"The teams _would_ have been even, but unfortunately, Miss Tamamo over here simply _insists_ on being with you," Martha sighs. "You should really command her to come with us, Master."

"I refuse," Tamamo asserts aggressively, clutching my right arm and even wedging her breasts over my biceps just for good measure. "You've seen how many times he's gotten hurt in a single day alone, the moment he lets himself out of my sight, he's going to get hurt again!"

"Caster, even if this is not my place to say this, _do_ let our Master be," Artoria also insists.

"Okay, we don't have time to stand here and argue, so I'll let Tamamo stick with me," I announce clearly, much to Tamamo's very conspicuous happiness. "But this means that we do have uneven teams. Salter, can I ask you to join these guys and head up to Orleans?"

"Hm. Very well."

Speaking concisely, Artoria Alter complies with my request and joins Jeanne's posse.

"A'ight. We got our teams, we've got our plans. I've got everyone connected on these," I display my own communications rune that I've given everyone, "so if anything happens that the other group needs to know, we can communicate."

"What's the maximum range on these, Master?" Matthew asks.

"Two thousand miles. Or, for our purposes, far enough."

"T-Two _thousand_...?"

Ignoring Matthew's gawking towards my direction, I watch as Tamamo conjures up mirrors for everyone while Marie produces a small herd of glass horses for everyone.

"We shall keep in touch, Master!" Jeanne calls over to us as we bid each other farewell for now.

"Same. Good luck!"

"Thank you, you as well!"

So we part and head our separate ways - my group heads west, while the others go north to Orleans.

"So what's our ending point? Where are we stopping before we head north ourselves?" I ask the others as our transportation mirrors, courtesy of Tamamo, climb in height and accelerate to a steady, brisk pace."

"Our ending point is Thiers. If we had the luxury of time, we could conduct more extensive searches, but for now, the city of Thiers will have to do," Mozart calls over. "On a side note, flying is quite exhilarating ~ oh, I'm getting an idea for another string quartet ~ "

And Mozart begins humming to himself quite enthusiastically, most likely already composing another string quartet in his head. If Tamamo's divergence from this world's version of history is to be seen as a point of reference, then Mozart might be a sign that these Heroic Spirits do in fact at least somewhat adhere to this world's history...though I can't imagine the real-life Mozart being fine with being dragged into live combat scenarios, but I guess that can be chalked up to becoming a Heroic Spirit/Servant.

"Everyone be on the lookout for possible Servants as we go," I remind my Servants, throwing out another Comsat Scan in the meantime. Because of how mana-intensive my scans are, I know that I'll have to limit them to once every ten minutes or so, though it also depends on how fast Tamamo has her mirrors travel, which I believe she can control.

"Master, we can sense other Servants for you, you should - " Tamamo, upon seeing me cast another Scan, almost expectedly calls out to me, but anticipating this, I have a response ready.

"Limiting myself to once every ten minutes if you keep at this pace," I inform her. "Just keep in mind that if you go faster, I'll be forced to Scan more frequently."

"Uh - o-okay..."

Glancing over at Tamamo, who's flying on her own mirror next to me, I subconsciously briefly consider her circumstances. I can only presume that I must be the first Master that she's had who firmly takes things at his own pace - a self-sufficient Master, you could even say. Perhaps Tamamo is just trying to find some kind of way that can make her feel useful, but if that were the case, then why she doesn't already feel useful, I wouldn't know, since we _have_ to rely on her magic mirrors for ease of transportation, as we're currently doing. I guess the reason for that would be that Tamamo doesn't consider that a good _enough_ reason...that she wants a way to feel _intimately_ useful, more so than just for mundane utility purposes. Given Tamamo's character, I can very much so see that being the real case.

Hopefully I can figure out something that can make the both of us happy with how we handle things. At the moment, I'm hard-pressed to find an answer...maybe a possible solution can't be found in situations like this where action and combat are involved. Maybe at home, I guess? But even if she's all about being a good housewife, I don't want to assume that that's all she'll be satisfied with. She seems to take to fighting quite well, and she was pretty savage against d'Eon when she attacked me earlier yesterday at La Charite.

This'll be something I know I'll be brooding over for a while.

"Is it safe to assume that we'll run into more French Servants, if there are any other Servants that've been summoned on their own?" I ask the others around me, which lets me notice that Tamamo has arranged the mirrors in such a way that everyone else is flying around me, putting me in the center. "There's Marie and d'Eon, right?"

"Sir Mozart is Austrian," Matthew notes. "Saint Martha is a biblical figure, Sir Siegfried is Norse..."

"Never did I imagine that as a fellow Heroic Spirit, I would have the pleasure of meeting the lovely Saint herself..." Mozart muses seriously. "Nor did I imagine that she would have such a fine figure...hmm...this is giving me ideas..."

"For another quartet, I assume?" I ask him in a monotone voice.

"Yes, yes, quite. How goes the colloquial saying in your own time, Master? 'That ass', or something of the sort?"

"Yeah."

What the fuck are you teaching these Servants, dumbass Grail(s)?

"Hmm...as fun as that is to say, Marie will most definitely slap me precisely two times on my right cheek if she ever finds out about this," Mozart determines with the most casual serious look on his face.

"A personal conjecture, Master, but there seems to be no indication that Servants whom we may encounter must be French. Among the Servants you have established contracts with in this Singularity, two of them are French, and the others are not," Artoria summarizes.

"Hm. So anything goes, huh..."

"And not to mention, those other enemy Servants weren't all French, too," Tamamo points out. "At least, I don't think they were."

I rub my chin a little. I can't say that I was _expecting_ a Singularity that's taking place in France to have a majority of French Servants, but it'll be a bit weird if it turns out that there are more non-French Servants than French Servants. Maybe that's just me.

"M-Master, um - did you sleep well last night?" Lily calls over to me while Mozart is busy mentally composing a pair of new string quartets, one about his experience flying on a magic mirror and one about Saint Martha's ass.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," I respond in kind. Because Tamamo is in between me and Lily, naturally, I can see Tamamo's ears twitch a little when she hears Lily being concerned over my well-being. "And Tamamo, calm down, now's not the time to get jealous."

Tamamo pouts just a smidgen.

* * *

The sun is well up in the sky by the time we approach the eastern outskirts of Thiers, which appears to be another walled city that's empty of human activity, like Lyon, but not trashed and half-wrecked, unlike Lyon, implying that the civilians here have been evacuated, for better or for worse.

 _"I'm detecting Servants in that city that you're heading towards,"_ Roman informs us. He's joined us about half an hour ago after grabbing some breakfast and then bringing it with him to his command console, so we had to put up with his chewing on cereal for about half that time. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for Artoria to have to have sat through that, as none of us have had any actual food to eat for the past day now...which really isn't a problem for anyone but me. When Roman started eating breakfast, Tamamo went into a little mini-rant about how we should've spent the first waking hour trying to look for food for me, except I reminded her that now was far too late for that kind of a rant.

"Roger that," I acknowledge Roman's callout, tossing out another Scan to confirm. "Yep, two of 'em. Looks like they're by themselves..."

"Looks like they've found each other first. Maybe they were planning on teaming up together against Jalter's forces?" Matthew guesses.

"We'll know for sure in about a minute. Drop us inside the city, Tamamo."

"Mikon ~ "

Tamamo pilots the mirrors to drop right down inside the city walls, just around the corner where the two Servants Roman's detected are, or should be.

"No weapons for this. If they're not part of Jalter's army, I'll talk to 'em and see if they can't join us instead," I tell my own Servants as we round the corner, especially eyeing the Artoria's swords, which they both discretely put away by dissipating them with their mana.

Even before we round the corner, though, what greets us first is a sudden burst of flame that sounds suspiciously similar to an explosion, but not quite. I've heard a lot of explosions in my time, this one doesn't sound quite like one. Very similar, though.

In the middle of the street, with several buildings around them either severely scorched or just outright burning, two girls who look like they're in their teens are attacking each other with a kind of ferocity I rarely see - this ain't no catfight, that's for damn sure. One of them, the one with magenta (or is that persimmon?)-colored long hair, savagely slams a very long and slim halberd-like spear with the extra underlying blade right down onto the other girl who has _much_ longer teal hair, the spear aimed for the latter's cranium. The girl with the long teal hair and elegant Japanese kimono that for some reason shows her soft-looking thighs parries the attack with her folding fan that's somehow sturdy enough to block what sure as hell looks like a full-powered hammerhead swing from her rival, and the former retaliates by attempting to get past the latter's defense with a flurry of quick pokes and thrusts, but these, too, all get blocked and parried with elegant and refined skill.

"You...! You, you, _you!"_

Snarling with vivid and tangible hatred, the girl with the spear (I'm going to assume she's a Lancer) continuing laying in on the other, who responds in kind in, not surprisingly, Japanese:

"うるさいですね (You're annoying)...!"

In between the Lancer girl's attack strings, the Japanese girl quickly raises her fan up into the air, opens it, and fans it quickly downwards, unleashing a stream of flame from it somehow that's aimed for the other girl. Sensing the imminent attack, probably from the ambient heating of the air around the Japanese girl, the Lancer girl disengages and dodges the burst of fire, which travels and blankets the building behind the Lancer, setting it ablaze even further.

"You cheeky Eastern squirrel!" the Lancer shouts angrily at the Japanese girl with an accent that is admittedly foreign to me, but it sounds like a Slavic accent, if I had to guess.

"Hah! Who is truly the cheeky one between the two of us?" the Japanese girl challenges with, naturally, a Japanese accent. English truly is a universal language, even in the Throne of Heroes, evidently. "Do you _truly_ believe that a failure like you can beat - "

Pausing in the middle of her sentence, the Japanese girl swings her fan again, directing another jetstream of fire towards her opponent, which the Lancer is forced to evade.

" - a true dragon like myself, Elizabeth?"

"Grrrr - ! Ahhhh, I'm so mad, damn it!" the Lancer screeches, gnashing her teeth in her opponent's direction. "As if running into myself earlier was bad enough, now I have to deal with _you?_ Fuck Carmilla, _I'm killing you first, you creepy fucking stalker!"_

With that, the Lancer girl named Elizabeth pounces over to the Japanese girl with the slowest pounce I've ever seen, but in exchange, when she slams her lance back down again at the Japanese girl, the force with which she swings her weapon is such that when the Japanese girl meets it with her fan again, the impact generates a gust of wind that pushes both of their hairs back.

"I am _not_ a stalker," the Japanese girl calmly and softly utters as the two girls stand there with their weapons locked in a test of pure ego. "I am a devoted bodyguard who acts like a spy - I, the gentle and faithful Kiyohime, am a woman who lives for love, something I doubt someone like you understands."

"Bullshit! Your 'love', no, your _sense_ of 'love' violates human rights!" Elisabeth the Lancer retorts. "We have a term for people like you, a term that _your own kind_ made! Need I say it to you?"

"I really do _not_ want to hear that from a pervert with a torture fetish. Say, Elisabeth, how are those blood baths treating your skin? I don't think I see any improvement, I must sa - "

"Fuck you, bitch! _You're_ the one who tracks your 'lovers' down if they don't do what you want and stuffs them into a bell and burns them to death! And besides, all that blood torture stuff, that wasn't even _me - !"_

"Excuse me, uh, I hate to interrupt you two in the middle of your, uh, argument, but, uh, I'd like to ask if you two are Servants, by any chance."

"Eh?"

As much fun as watching the two of them face off was, I've taken the steps to close the distance between us and speak to them in person, because something tells me that they've been at this for quite some time and won't stop for another quite a long time. Both Elizabeth and the Japanese girl named Kiyohime find me standing practically right next to them, with Tamamo right behind me and the others a bit further away.

"Ehehe...Kiyo-chan, now a bad time, I see...?" Tamamo awkwardly asks, waving hi to her.

Upon seeing Tamamo, Kiyohime performs a glorious double-take before squealing,

"T-Tamamo-san?!"

And without further ado, Kiyohime practically throws herself into Tamamo as Elizabeth and I stare. As the two of them dance in each other's arms in circles in place, I turn to the Lancer next to me.

"Long day for you, I'm assuming," I tell her, trying to sound sympathetic, even though I'm really not, I'll admit.

Elizabeth just groans, arching her neck up while holding her arms limp in front of her in frustration.

"You're telling _me,_ little piggy!" she grumbles loudly. "First, I find myself summoned into this place that on the other side of the continent, and then I run into my future self that I really hate, and then I run into _this_ annoying Japanese rat snake in this town..."

I stand there with a smile that feigns understanding, reminding myself that this is what a fair number of girls were like back in my grade school days. To be fair, Elizabeth probably did have a bad day so far today.

"Do you know the situation that's going on here? If not, I can brief you and tell you who we are and what we're trying to do," I tell Elizabeth once it seems like she's cooled off on her ranting.

"Situation? All I know is that I got summoned here because...God, I don't even know," the Lancer complains. "And then that Carmilla found me, but I chased her off, and then I just kind of wandered into this town thinking it was a good place to practice my singing since I was bored, only to find that _that_ wannabe dragon was already here..."

"I see. I believe your name was Elizabeth, right?"

"Wait, how do _you_ know?"

"Kiyohime called you by your name while you were fighting, and I heard it, so..."

"Tch."

"Sorry about that."

"No, it's not you, piggy, it's about _that_ baby snake..." Elizabeth glares at Kiyohime's back.

"Well, in any case, my name's August, I'm a Master who's been sent to resolve this, uh, we call it a 'Singularity', that's taken over France, and we're trying to gather up all the Servants who've been summoned into this Singularity by themselves like you and Kiyohime so that we can fight the army of the Dragon Witch, whom we're calling Jalter for convenience's sake."

"A Master?" Elizabeth narrows her eyes at me. "A piggy like you, a Master?"

I give her a polite smile.

"I'm not exactly sure what your deal is with constantly calling me a pig," I tell her nicely as I tower over her with ten inches to spare, "but that aside, if proof is what you need, then here."

I pull off the fingerless glove off my right hand to show her the Command Spells on the back.

"But you _are_ a little piggy, though," Elizabeth says either innocently or matter-of-factly, I can't tell which. "Oh, you really _are_ a Master. Hm, I _do_ wanna get back at that damn Carmilla, so fine, I'll take you as my Master for that purpose. You can be my manager, too, so I'll look forward to working with you, mkay?"

"Sure." I extend my hand out to her, and Elizabeth just stares at me.

"...what's this?" she asks blankly.

"A handshake. You just need to shake my hand to complete the contract," I explain.

"Ugh...a-an idol shouldn't just shake hands with _anyone_...but...I _did_ say you were going to be my manager, so..." Elizabeth reluctantly shakes my hand, realizing that she's hung herself on this, which I didn't intend but I guess works out in my favor, but as soon as she does shake my hand, I can feel the Command Spells on the back of my hand heat up a little in confirmation of adding another Servant to my roster, and Elizabeth suddenly brightens up.

"Ooooh!" she exclaims, looking as if all the annoyance and pent-up anger that she had just evaporated right then and there. "Oh, this is so nice, having a Master who can supply me with mana. Now I can _really_ take on Carmilla, her with her fake Master of hers, haha!"

By this point, the others have joined us as well, seeing that the volatile situation between these two new Servants we've stumbled upon has more or less been defused, and Elizabeth grumpily glances over at Kiyohime and Tamamo with her hands on her hips, though with significantly less putrid anger than before.

"Japanese snake, are you done yet? I want to go find that Carmilla and kick her ass this time, so it'd be nice if you _didn't_ waste my time," Elizabeth complains to her, causing Kiyohime to turn around while still hugging Tamamo with an annoyed look of her own.

"Can you not see that I am rather busy at the moment?" she replies with a hearty attitude. "Come back the day before yesterday."

"Ahhh, geeezzz!" Elizabeth groans, stomping her foot a few times against the ground. "Piggy, you'll let me smack her a few times, right? Right?"

I slowly close my eyes and sigh silently through my nose while my other Servants look on with truly sympathetic looks.


	44. Anticipation

"あら、あら～" Kiyohime nods with quite the evil-yet-friendly smile, once I've explained the situation to her. "I see, so that is what has been transpiring in this land with which I am not familiar."

"Right. Elizabeth said that she'd run into one of those Berserk Servants whom Jalter summoned, and so I was gonna ask you the same, if you'd run into any yourself."

"Any of those Berserk Servants? Well, I mean, myself, I suppose?" Kiyohime lets out a downright adorable little giggle that only Japanese girls know how to make. "I _am_ a Berserker, after all."

" _Other_ than yourself."

"Hey, stop trying to be all cute and stuff, snakey," Elizabeth snaps over to us, keenly listening to the two of us talk.

"Grace and elegance are like my middle names, Elizabeth. I cannot help but be cute if that entails being a side effect of my behavior," Kiyohime retorts quite smugly, but she turns back to me swiftly after dissing the other new Servant of the day. "Also, I'm glad that you are a fellow Japanese, Master," she speaks this to me in, you guessed it, Japanese. "It just makes me all the more willing to join you in your noble quest ~ "

"Hm, thanks, I guess. But I was gonna ask you if you met any Servants _other_ than the Berserk ones, the ones we're fighting against..."

"Ah, yes, if you are _not_ referring to the ones who have been rampaging across the country..." Kiyohime pops open her fan and holds it graciously over her lips like a true Japanese court lady. "I did meet another Servant while I was wandering. A Servant by the name of Georgios, as he called himself."

 _"Georgios - as in St. George?"_ Roman suddenly pops up in his hologram projection again, since Matthew is also nearby and observing our conversation.

"Ah...yes, he...he was definitely one of those 'Saint' types, I suppose you could say..." Kiyohime, taken back somewhat by the hologram which I'm sure she finds quite foreign, answers hesitantly.

"Sorry, he's our assistant and communicator from beyond this Singularity. His name's Roman Archaman, just refer to him as such," I quickly explain. "In any case, where did you meet him?"

"In a town further to the west named Thiers," Kiyohime recounts. "It has only been a day since I last met him, so he ought to still be there. I asked him what he was doing there, and he told me that he was entrusted with the safety of that town..."

"Then that means that town's expecting attacks," I immediately determine, opening my comms rune to relay the information to the other group. "Orleans group, be advised, we've located some new Servants, and one of them's given us the location of another Servant who's allegedly residing in the town of Thiers, which may fall under attack soon. We're heading there to rendezvous with that Servant and defend the town from possible attacks, what's your situation?"

 _"We've made contact with several patrol groups of wyverns already - we think that Jalter is strengthening the defenses around Orleans!"_ Jeanne calls back, and I can hear the galloping of glass hooves in the background.

 _"Yes indeed - it seems that Mademoiselle Jalter is expecting us to attack Orleans soon,"_ Marie adds. _"She may have already anticipated that we would scour the country to look for other Servants summoned in reaction to her own summoning of Berserk Servants."_

 _"We did see more wyvern squads flying past us. They may be hunting for those Servants at the same time, Master!"_ d'Eon further adds.

"If that's the case, Master, then it - it lines up with what Lady Kiyohime was saying," Lily says with a small gasp. "It could be that there are enemy forces heading for Thiers right now!"

"Yeah, pretty much what I was thinking," I nod in agreement.

"Oh my...it seems you found us just in the nick of time, then," Kiyohime chuckles a little.

"Then let us make haste to Thiers, Master," Artoria insists. "If there are people who need protecting, we must depart immediately. Thiers should not be far from here, we should be able to reach it before the wyverns do."

Nodding a second time, I glance over at Tamamo. "If you will, please."

"Mikon ~ " Tamamo replies enthusiastically, summoning back her magic mirrors that we've been using to fly around the country quickly. "Well, Liz doesn't get one, though."

"Oh, come _on,_ you didn't have enough of bullying me from before?!" Elizabeth shrieks at Tamamo with a loud scream that causes everyone who doesn't expect it to jump a little, gripping her halberd spear dangerously tightly to the point where an ordinary spear would've broken three times over. "No, seriously, _fuck you!"_

"Okay, I don't know what happened in the past between you two, but Tamamo, please get Liz one too and let's go," I raise my voice significantly to get the point across, and Tamamo, with a twist of her lips and a little "hmph!" conjures another mirror and tosses it over to Elizabeth.

Once we're all situated on our mirrors, Tamamo takes us up and into the skies to head further west to the town of Thiers.

"Master, how certain are you that Thiers will be under attack?" Matthew calls over to me.

"Not very!" I admit, yelling back at her to fight against the wind rippling past us as Tamamo cranks up the speed. "But the few pieces of intel we've got all point to Thiers possibly getting attacked soon! But again, 'soon' is up to your interpretation!"

"How soon do you think it will be, Master?"

"No idea, we'll know when we get there, I guess!"

I turn to Tamamo, who's flying close next to me, as is Kiyohime, for some reason. Come to think of it, I don't remember who Kiyohime is in history...I'll brush up on my Japanese history when we get back home.

"Tamamo, I might sound like I'm stickin' my nose into personal business, but just for future reference, what's your problem with Liz?" I ask Caster. "She reacted really badly to you, even though from what it looked like, it was just a harmless joke."

"It _was_ a harmless joke!" Tamamo spouts with a pout. "Don't ask _me_ why she reacted like that, that's not my problem."

"Then if I can't ask you, who _should_ I ask?"

"You can just go ask Liz yourself, you know."

"And have you be all jealous that I'm talking to another girl, especially one who seems like she just doesn't get along with you at all, especially when I myself haven't known her for more than ten minutes?"

Tamamo gives me an annoyed little glare. "So what's your point, Master? It's not even that big of a deal, you're just making it seem like one right now," she rebukes.

I say nothing back, forcing the end of the conversation. It's one of my pet peeves to see people arguing or fighting when they're supposed to be on the same side, and I've had some rough experiences having to be in that position. So if possible, I'd like to avoid those situations altogether by stopping them before they can develop into anything truly dangerous for the group, because again, in my experience, usually whenever people fight like this, no one cares to step in and mediate until it's far too late, if they even mediate at all, which means that I, being the only one who really realizes this to any degree, needs to be the one to be that mediator. Right now is not the time to be that mediator simply because I have no knowledge of Tamamo's and Elizabeth's history or relationship or whatever with each other.

I make a mental note to talk to Tamamo again about this matter later, when we're back home or at least not in a situation where we need to be concentrating on whatever other bigger responsibilities we have at the moment. And I'll also have to speak to Elizabeth too to get her input. There's never only one side to a story, after all.

* * *

After only about another fifteen minute flight, since Tamamo has set her mirrors on a very fast flight path, we reach Thiers and land in the eastern outskirts so that we can make the rest of the way on foot on the wide dirt path that leads into the east side of the town.

However, upon seeing us, the guardsmen start shouting in French and summon more soldiers and armed villagers and townspeople, who start firing arrows in our direction, lobbing them into the air to hit us from above.

"They're attacking!" Lily cries out, but I react the fastest and cast a light barrier that's big enough to cover our entire group, and arrows start dinking off the barrier that I've cast.

"Don't worry about me! Matthew, see if you can't talk to them in French or something!" I urge my self-proclaimed underclassman.

"But they won't be able to hear me from here even if I yell!" Matthew points out, having her shield ready to block the incoming projectiles too.

"I can just blast them away!" Tamamo offers, already holding out a few talismans just for the job.

"Let's _not_ risk attacking the townspeople, mkay?"

"Wait, wait, the attack is stopping," Mozart observes, and sure enough the steady rain of arrows ceases, and the armed townspeople and guardsmen fall back as a man hurries out to greet us from the town. I still hold up the shield barrier for us, though, just in case, as a man with long brown hair, light tan armor, and a white battle dress and cape greets us.

"I apologize for the townspeople attacking you, but do forgive them; the town has been attacked before and they are not very trusting of anyone who is not French, especially those who run towards the town like you all just did," the man hurriedly says with a Greek accent, holding his sword in its sheath at his side. "I am Georgios, but others call me St. George, or perhaps just George for short. You must all be Servants, with one exception." George eyes me in particular.

"Yeah, everyone here's a Servant except for me, and I'm their Master," I respond in kind. "Kiyohime here informed us of your location here, and we've traveled here to meet you."

"Aye, so it seems. I was able to approach you all because you had Lady Kiyohime with you. Had it not been for her..." George trails off. "But in any case, how may I be of service?"

"We're currently searching the country for Servants like yourself who've been summoned into this Singularity to fight against Jalter and her forces," I explain swiftly, and just as George opens his mouth to ask questions, I predict what they are and answer them before he even needs to ask. "This 'Singularity' thing is the term we're using to describe the situation at hand, we'll explain more later, and Jalter is the name we've given the Jeanne d'Arc who's been summoning all these wyverns to run around to terrorize the country."

"I see. And everyone here is a Servant you have found in this Singularity?" George asks.

"Not all of them, some of them arrived with me into the Singularity itself, but everyone else yes, we've found. I was wondering if we could ask you to join us too. Not just for our sake, but for yours too."

"Mm. I most definitely would, but this town's mayor has entrusted the protection of this city to me after I arrived. As a Saint, I cannot turn my back to these people who need my protection, and doubly so when the enemies in question are dragons."

That reminds me.

Deactivating the magic barrier, I throw my right hand back up into the air and recast Comsat Scan, and a strong one, at that - so strong, in fact, that a gust of wind blasts from around my feet with the sheer force with which I cast my spell.

"M-Master!?" Tamamo shrieks, and the other Servants immediately around me also have very concerned looks since they can obviously tell just how much mana I've put into this.

Due to the power of my spell, I'm able to get near-instant feedback on potential magic signatures in our area, and sure enough, right on time, a particularly large flock of wyverns - what's the proper name for a group of wyverns or dragons, anyway? - is making a beeline for Thiers, straight towards our position, or something damn near it. But they're not alone - I also pick up a much stronger magical presence in their midst, a presence I can only assume to be a Servant, because realistically, what or who else would it be.

"Wyverns, coming from the northeast high," I report swiftly to everyone around me as I pull my AX-50 sniper rifle out of its magical storage. "St. George, tell the people to get inside. I'll have everyone here go out and meet the wyverns ahead of the town so that any collateral damage we do is away from the town."

"Understood." St. George quickly turns heel and hurries back to the town under my instruction, and turning around myself, I slap the bolt of my rifle forward, take a knee, and tune my magical optic for its furthest zoom setting possible to see if I can get a visual on the incoming targets. It's nothing but flat farmland all around us, so it should be easy to spot the wyverns incoming.

"Master, you - " Tamamo begins to say, but I'm not having any of it today.

"All of you, head forward and take those wyverns on, I'll provide covering fire from here and join in if necessary," I order. "Go! Now!"

So all the Servants dash into sprints forward at the conviction with which I issue this order, and really only Tamamo can resist it, keeping herself anchored next to me - and for some reason, Kiyohime as well, even though we've only just made our contract.

 _"Master, please, stop this!"_ Tamamo shrieks. Here she goes again.

"And why?" I murmur back, not sharing the same urgency that Tamamo has in her voice as I mentally triangulate the exact location of the approaching wyvern force with where I felt those presences with my scan spell.

"You're using too much mana! I don't even know how you're still standing!" Caster cries. "That scan spell you just used, that's like the same amount of mana a normal mage would have all at once, and yet you used that same amount in a single spell!"

"But I'm not about to fall over dead, though. At least, it sure doesn't feel like it to me."

"That's because you're just holding it in! You _have_ to be!"

I pull the trigger. The tremendous thunderclap that emits out of the muzzle of my military sniper rifle, with the magic mana exhaust pumping through the perforations of the muzzle brake, splits the air as the fifty-caliber mana bullet gets thrown into the sky, angled upwards to account for bullet drop, ambient wind velocity, and at this distance where I'm shooting well over a mile or two, Coriolis effect. I've tried to account for my non-optimal shooting stance as well, since the shaking that I'm applying to the rifle by holding it manually with my left hand underneath the barrel will also affect the bullet, but I should have accounted for that well enough.

Retracting the bolt to eject the spent magic casing, which evaporates into the air before it hits the dirt, I close the bolt again, retaking aim.

"I dunno," I murmur almost amusedly. "Am I holding it in? And besides, hold _what_ in, exactly?"

I pull the trigger again, to the same effect.

"K-Kiyo-chan, you're his Servant now too! Talk some sense into him!" Tamamo desperately whines over to her friend, just before I let loose another shot. "Eeek!"

"I unfortunately do not share the same concerns as you do, Tamamo-san," Kiyohime shakes her head calmly. Despite probably never seeing a weapon like this sniper rifle, she doesn't flinch at all at any of the ear-splitting reports it makes every time I pull the trigger. "If he truly was desperately trying with all his might to keep himself together, it would have been apparent by now. He seems to be holding himself together just fine, fighting with determination like he is."

"But he's just an ordinary mage!" Tamamo argues, holding her fox (jackal) ears down every time I fire a shot to protect her hearing, even though as a Servant she has no need to worry about something like that. "You can tell too, can't you? Just judging by his mana flow! He's contracted with fourteen Servants in total now, if we count that George Saint guy too, since we know he'll join us! On top of which, he's using all these strong spells and shooting bullets that're all packed with mana! If his mana were of excellent quality or caliber, then I wouldn't be making such a fuss about this! But it's not! He just has the mana of an ordinary mage, like I said! There's no way he should be able to sustain himself like this!"

"Then there is clearly more to Master than what we know," Kiyohime says pleasantly. "He gives the impression that he is an experienced warrior. That is the case, yes, Master?"

"I'd hesitate to call myself a 'warrior', but the experienced part is true, at least," I reply in kind, pulling out the empty magazine for my AX-50 and recharging it with five more mana bullets before reloading the gun but slipping it back into magic storage again. "Let's go join 'em, they've made contact."

Without waiting for either of them, I kick off the ground to get a head start on my sprint across the flat farmland towards the rest of my Servants who are just now engaging the wyverns that were en route to Thiers. As the distance between me and the rest of the Servants spans over a mile, it's inefficient to try to flash-step my way over to them, so just good ol' fashioned sprinting is better in these cases. I have my cross-country training to thank for having both options available to me.

I sense Tamamo and Kiyohime catching up on the magic mirrors to join me.

"My, my, quite the athletic you are, Master ~ " Kiyohime calls like a sports fan or something.

"I'm telling you, I'm worried, Kiyo-chan!" Tamamo implores her friend.

"If you are so worried, fight with him, as I intend to!" Kiyohime calls back. "Fight by his side, so that you may be there in his time of need, should your fears turn true!"

"Why don't _you_ sound more worried about this, anyway? _You're_ also the type who'd worry about their Master too!"

"Because I find it pointless to worry about a problem that has not yet happened! And I refuse to stand in the way of a Master who wishes to fight!"

"Pay attention, you two, we're about to make contact!" I yell at the two of them, gasping for breath in order to power my yells. It's harder than it looks like those animes and mangas where people talk while they're running. I guess that's why they're animes and mangas, since talking is a free action, apparently. Is that why people always have long-winded monologues? Must be.

Leaping into the air, I raise my right hand back up into the air again, not to perform a scan spell, but this time slicing down through the air with my two fingers that trace a momentary flash of light that slices into the air itself - and the wyvern that it passes through at the same time. The wyvern is already falling into two halves by the time my feet hit the ground.

"Master!" Matthew yells out, glad to see me back in action as I draw my AR-10 this time and start shooting wyverns around me as the Servants are all cutting down the wyverns attacking them, littering the battlefield with wyvern body parts and bodies and blood.

"That Jalter is nearby, Master," Mozart warns me, with conductor's baton in hand as the angels of music flutter around behind him, helping him perform his music of death to help weaken the wyverns.

So that's who it was leading the wyverns.

"Why did she come by herself? Shouldn't she have her own Servants with her?" I ask Mozart, reloading my AR-10 while Tamamo and Kiyohime cover me, both of them launching flame attacks at the wyverns diving for us to knock them out of the sky.

"No idea. Though, she is still here in the area, so I suppose you could ask directly from the source."

"Yeah, I'll try to. Where is she right now?"

"High in the air somewhere, I'd suspect."

Lowering my assault rifle, I start scanning the sky for Jalter while a few questions fire off in my head instead of bullets: why is Jalter here alone? Why didn't she bring Fafnir with her? And why attack Thiers in particular?

I don't find immediate answers to my own questions, but what I do find is Jalter herself - she's riding on a black wyvern high in the sky, just like Mozart said, probably at a height of maybe seventy or so meters. I'll take Mozart's advice to heart.

Putting the rifle away again, I bend my knees, concentrating mana into my knees and feet, and once I've got enough, I bounce off the ground to clear about twenty-five meters by myself. Using the wyverns along the way as stepping stones, I climb up and up and up until there physically aren't any more wyverns left for me to continue my ascent to reach Jalter, who by now has noticed me chasing after her and is focusing on me. The lack of wyverns to kick off of doesn't deter me, because in their stead, magic runes beneath my feet pick up where the wyverns leave off, and I bounce off the runes to finally reach Jalter.

"You dare challenge _me_ all the way up _here_ , you foolish human Master?" Jalter laughs at me as I'm still climbing up off my runes. "You had the advantage on the ground alongside your Servants, and yet you throw it away just t - "

Jalter cuts herself off to swerve her mount away just in time as a sinister flash of razor-sharp light slashes where she was, and I frown to myself because I missed.

"You - !"

Drawing her black sword, Jalter brandishes it at me, but standing on the rune in the middle of the air on the same level as Jalter, I concentrate my killing intent onto the pale girl on the black wyvern before me that's charging at me, with intense heat burning up the air around me. But I'm not worried - in a similar motion that a baseball pitcher would use to throw a pitch, I throw my right hand at Jalter, downwards across my chest, with a sharp, eardrum-slicing _ding._

 _"Assassinate."_


	45. Not a Leader

**A/N:**

 **Gabriel790: done.**

 **Gilanor25: agreed that this story had a slow start, mainly because I was busier playing the actual game than writing since I'm a filthy whale. But I've also taken the slow start as an opportunity to map out how I'd like to write the story and the direction it'll take, this whole slow start thing works out.**

 **DbsMUi: The Type Moon multiverse is all interconnected to some degree, after all. Might as well learn from the best.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

"Strike - _Air!"_

I have to kick myself back to avoid getting struck by Artoria's sword-produced wind attack that blasts up where I was standing on the air to take down the wyverns that were heading up to defend Jalter from me, and I roll along the air on the runes that I passively produce to simulate being on the ground, pulling out my dual Desert Eagles for my own defense.

But my pistols won't offer me any protection from the fireball that's headed straight for my face.

I have to dodge again, but in hard-boiled fashion, I leap to my left, spamming shots from my pistols as I slide onto my rune platform, landing on my side, but I rebound off the rune and get up to my feet swiftly in time to see Jalter, gnashing her teeth at me murderously with blood spilled down her chest on the right side of her body, clutches her own sword and raises it up into the air.

 _"Se brûler!"_ she roars, dropping her sword forward in my direction. Judging by the intense heat signatures I feel swiveling around me, I can only assume that she's telling me to go burn in hell, or something along those lines.

A dozen burning swords made of mana spin around me over my head, and at Jalter's command, they slice down, attempting to decapitate me where I stand. But their presence was given away by their intense heat signatures that I can't possibly miss, and knowing that they would attack, I time my dodge just when Jalter gives her command so that she doesn't have an opportunity to redirect the swords to chase, unless they turn out to be homing somehow, but they're not. The swords sink down into the ground, scattering across in the directions that they've been fired off to.

To dodge, I flash-step again, but flash-stepping in mid-air is exponentially more difficult than flash-stepping on the ground. For one, I have no natural solid ground to work with, so I have to create my own, which I have the option of doing, thankfully. But that also requires mana to perform, and where the biggest problem comes in is predicting and controlling where along the air I land, on top of creating the rune that will act as my landing point - or, in other words, I can't make a mistake when it comes to mana control and execution if I want to be flash-stepping all around the air like I am now. The consequences aren't that bad, since the worst that'll happen is that I'll probably fall right through an incorrectly cast platform rune and briefly fall through the air before I recover myself by creating another one to stop my fall, but if possible, I'd like to _not_ make a mistake in the first place.

Luckily for me, I time everything perfectly, and I find myself right in front of Jalter and her black wyvern, just where I want to be.

Raising my handgun, I put a bullet in between the wyvern's eyes as it turns to look at me, and the mana bullet punches it in the face. It's stronger than the other normal green and red wyverns, though, since a mana bullet of this caliber will easily kill a wyvern with a direct shot to the head, but this one lives, though it reels back and roars weakly in pain, a possible sign that it's heavily stunned by the impact of the bullet.

Jalter doesn't let that faze her, though. She retaliates by gripping her black sword even more tightly and swinging it at me again, even though I'm out of her sword's range, but she releases a massive heatwave from her body instead, hot enough to burn through clothes, but once again I feel the heat surge coming from a mile away (not literally) and jump up to avoid the worst of the heatwave, emptying my handguns down at Jalter and reloading them swiftly, dropping the empty magazines into the air where they vanish into their magic storage runes and then slapping the bottoms of the handles against another pair of magic runes that eject fresh magazines for me to reload my empty pistols with, and then finally throwing the slides forward to load the first rounds.

"Wyverns, attack him! _Kill him!"_ Jalter shouts vengefully.

All of the wyverns in Jalter's immediate airspace (and by extension my own) turn their attentions to me and start screeching and flying straight for me.

The moment I hear Jalter order the wyverns to attack, I don't waste any time and start shooting. Having my eyes dart here and there quickly to assess all the targets that I can see, I snap my aims onto each of them flying towards me and blast them, aiming for their heads to fulfill the one-shot, one-skill mantra. In fact, the only reason why I can't keep the wyverns at bay is because firearms have this peculiar problem called ammunition - once they run out, you can't attack. And that's exactly what happens to my own handguns. How surprising.

When the slides of my Desert Eagles stick back to expose the smoking actions, I drop them immediately to rid myself of them, knowing that they'll slip into their magic storage anyway even without my concern. In the same manner that I've attacked Jalter a few moments ago, I silently slash at the nearest approaching wyvern, casting the sharp slice that's aimed for the wyvern's face, and its head summarily explodes.

But by this time, I'm about to get swarmed by the rest of the wyverns, so I leap higher into the air, then start to constantly bounce from rune to rune in different parts of the air to throw the wyverns off, since they can't change directions anywhere near as fast as I can. Thanks, physics.

Once I've caused the wyverns to break formation with my confusing leaps through the air with the assistance of my runes, the wyverns try to adapt by simply holding position in the air so that they don't have to worry about chasing me when they can just wait for me to make one wrong move and end up jumping right into one of them. Except that's what I want them to do, so once I find the opportunity, I leap into the very middle of the wyvern flock that's trying to hunt me down and swing my arm up strongly, creating a crescent vector that slices through four wyverns at once, cutting two of them cleanly in half and tearing off the wings of the others and causing them all to fall helplessly to the ground. The wyverns can't move away fast enough thanks to their sheer size (again, thanks physics!), which gives me plenty of time to slice more of them to pieces. One of the wyverns below me soars up to try to bite me in the legs, but I dissipate the rune that I'm standing on and stomp my right foot right on the wyvern's snout, producing a flash of razor-sharp light that cleaves the top half of the wyvern right open like a zipper on a purse being opened.

More wyverns try to swoop in at the same time, so after stomping the previous wyvern, I raise both my hands that I'm making finger guns with and fire off bursts of mana on both sides, blasting the wyverns trying to flank me from the sides away. One of them only gets partially nicked, but my Reigun shot does force its momentum to a near-halt, so by the time it reaches me again, I have time to leap towards it and bury my fist into its nose. I can feel the fabric in my black fingerless glove sink about a few inches into the wyvern's snout before the mana I've packed into this punch converts itself into explosive energy that tears the wyvern's face right off and throws it down through the air towards the ground.

I sense Jalter swooping down through the air to attack me when I'm occupied, but a halberd spear rockets up into the air between us, forcing Jalter to halt lest her wyvern mount get impaled through the bottom of the chin.

"You owe me for that one, piggy!" Liz calls through our comms rune.

But I have other ideas - I leap back up into the air and grab it before it starts falling back down, and Jalter rises up to meet me.

"God, so persistent - I fucking _hate_ people like you - !" Jalter seethes at me as flames start convulsing into view in the air around her. I offer no words back, instead opting to flash-step right in front of her with Liz's spear already raised over my head.

Jalter does a big ol' double-take right in front of me - I've just flash-stepped straight within range of her ambient flames that are surrounding her, and the flames are already starting to burn my jacket and shirt and my skin. But I don't flinch - being burned is a familiar feeling.

I drop the hammer, and Jalter barely throws herself off her mount to avoid having her own face split in half too. The same can't be said of the black wyvern she's been riding, though, and I feel the satisfactory sensation of a heavy steel blade cleaving the wyvern's head in two. The flames poof away miserably while the wyvern I've just dispatched of topples through the air in a flood of its own blood, and Jalter, fortunately for her, manages to land on another wyvern and uses it as her emergency getaway vehicle to fly off.

"I-I didn't say you could _use_ my spear, piggy! Give it back!" Liz shouts angrily as I contemplate hurling Liz's spear like a javelin to see if I can't hit Jalter in the back as she retreats, but hearing Elizabeth reminds me that this isn't exactly a spear that's my own, so I dissuade myself. I calmly pat the small little flames that're burning up my jacket and shirt away to put them out.

Tamamo promptly joins me on one of her magic mirrors. "Master, are you alright?" she asks half-worriedly, half-irritably. "And you can stand on air?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I have to use runes for this, though," I explain somewhat as I scan the ground, seeing that the battle is, by now, more or less concluded, with the rest of the surviving wyverns retreating and flying after their leader.

"Yeah, I figured! And it takes a lot of mana, doesn't it?!"

I nod wholeheartedly. No need to try to hide that from her.

Tamamo doesn't even try to argue with me by this point, but she does take matters into her own hands and tugs me onto her mirror so that I don't have to endanger myself again to get back down on the ground, and I let her take me down. The two of us promptly rejoin the Servants down on the ground, and I hand Elizabeth her spear back.

"Good work up there, Master," Artoria beams at me, one of the first Servants to meet me once Tamamo and I touch down. "Your diversion helped us defeat the enemies on the ground much more effectively."

"Glad it helped," I nod, looking around. "Is St. George back with us? He said he'd join us again..."

"No, it doesn't seem like it..." Lily murmurs.

"Everyone else alright?" I ask around, checking everyone's conditions to see if anyone's got obvious wounds to tend to.

"We are Heroic Spirits, Master," Kiyohime reminds me in that silky, dangerous voice of hers. Somehow, blood's gotten onto her kimono, but it's clearly not her own since her kimono itself doesn't appear ripped. "We will not lose to a mere flock of wannabe dragons such as these."

 _"Looks like St. George's coming back,"_ Roman advises from his hologram projected from Matthew's front, and so we wait for St. George to regroup with us.

"The wyverns - it appears I was not needed after all," George grins apologetically. "I apologize, getting the townspeople into proper shelter took longer than I expected."

"That's fine, we're pretty much done here," I tell him. "I'll ask again, though: would you like to join us to take out Jalter and restore this Singularity?"

"But of course."

The two of us shake hands to complete the contract.

"However, there _is_ the matter of making sure that Thiers will not fall under attack again," St. George muses. "It would be inexcusable for me to leave this town to which I've pledged my assistance and have it attacked in my absence."

"But we've kicked those wyverns' butts so hard here that I doubt they'll come back!" Elizabeth wonders aloud. "You really think they're gonna come back?"

"There is the possibility," Artoria says, also pondering the situation. "If we had more information on the enemy's battle tendencies, perhaps we would be able to reach a suitable counter-strategy more easily..."

I myself contemplate the situation. Jalter clearly can't fight against all of us at once, as she's only one Servant against me and everyone here, and I more than likely fought her in a situation where she was disadvantaged, forcing her to disengage and retreat. And with St. George now with us, we have a total of fourteen Servants.

I need to know how the others are doing.

"Orleans group, come in. What's your status?" I call into my comms rune.

 _"Oh, Master, great timing! We've rendezvoused with one of the marshals of the French Army, Gilles de Rais!"_ Jeanne replies with relief. _"We've been helping the army fight against the wyverns south of Orleans; they're trying to retake the city, but the Berserk Servants are stopping us with all the wyverns that are in the city."_

"Alright, good to know; we're still here in Thiers, but we've deflected Jalter's attack on the town and she's retreated."

 _"Jalter - she attacked you personally?"_

"Yeah, but she was the only one, and it wasn't that bad with everyone here." I pause for a moment, thinking about what to ask next. "Jeanne, are you with the marshal right now?"

 _"Yes, in fact he's standing by right next to me."_

"Good, I need you to ask him a few questions for me."

 _"Yes, of course!"_

"First, does he happen to know the size of the enemy army? How many Berserk Servants they've seen or fought, and how many wyverns in total he thinks there are?"

Jeanne relays the question to Marshal de Rais.

 _"He says that he doesn't know for certain, but it feels like the bulk of the enemy army is here to prevent the French Army from retaking Orleans,"_ Jeanne responds. _"And as for the Berserk Servants, he hasn't seen any more than the ones we've seen as well."_

So that means Jalter has no more Berserk Servants - if the French Army's knocking on the door to Orleans where her Holy Grail's being kept, she's for sure going to put all the Servants at her disposal to use. But that raises another question - where'd the French Army itself come from?

"Ask him, too, where the French Army came from. All we've run into were bands of isolated soldiers so far, how'd he get an entire army together?" I ask.

 _"He says that when this Singularity first emerged and the wyverns first started attacking, he immediately went undercover to try to assemble the army by contacting all available French troops throughout the country before the wyverns could get to them. He couldn't get to them all, of course, but what troops he did manage to contact, he ordered to avoid contact with the wyverns or the Berserk Servants so that when the opportunity came, they could gather together to take back Orleans."  
_

Then it sounds like our arrival gave the Marshal the chance he and troops needed to rendezvous and make the army that's now trying to lay siege to their own capital city.

"Then stay with the army for now, and work with the Marshal to protect the army," I instruct her. "We'll join you shortly later today."

 _"Understood, Master!"_

I deactivate my comms rune.

"It seems you have a plan for us, Master," Mozart remarks rather inquisitively.

"Yeah. We're gonna try to end this Singularity either by today or tomorrow," I nod. "It seems like Jalter's forces're being hard-pressed right now keeping the French Army back from Orleans, and now that our Servants're assisting them to fight against the Berserk Servants, Jalter can't take them lightly. I think she knows by now that we outnumber her if we only count our Servants, so she's probably headed back to Orleans to see what else there is that she can do. In other words, we don't have to worry about her attacking Thiers at this point when she's got the French Army knocking on her door," I tell the Saint.

"Indeed. That is a relief," St. George nods.

"So we'll rendezvous with the others with the French Army and lead the charge against Jalter's army to take Orleans back and find that Grail," I continue. "The wyverns shouldn't be a problem; our biggest threats are the Berserk Servants, but the French marshal said that he doesn't know of any other Berserk Servant that we ourselves didn't already meet or fight, meaning that, again, we outnumber them."

"But what if Jalter summons more Berserk Servants with the Holy Grail?" Matthew asks.

"Then she'll use them to attack us. If you're worried that she'll send them to go around to terrorize other towns around the country, we can just send our own Servants after them to fight against them; we have the numbers advantage still. Plus, if we capture some of their Servants, if they're willing to join us, like St. Martha or d'Eon, that's all the better." I look around at my Servants. "Any objections? Questions?"

The Servants shake their heads. "Let us make haste to Orleans, then, Master," Artoria smiles at me with the most confident of smiles. It's a smile that radiates brilliantly, one that reinvigorates me and refreshes my motivation to keep fighting despite the stress I've been feeling from all that intense mana usage just earlier fighting Jalter.

"Alright. But now the question is, Tamamo, can you handle this many people on your mirrors at once?" I ask Caster, who also looks concerned.

"Yeah, I've been kinda thinking about that. I _can,_ but...it'll be stressful on me, controlling this many mirrors at once," Tamamo pouts sadly. "And you already know how I feel about using up a lot of mana."

"Yeah, I know..."

"The townspeople have stables with fresh horses," St. George informs us. "If we return to town, I can request the townspeople to lend us their horses. You _did_ defend them from these wyverns, even if they never physically reached the town itself."

I nod. "Let's get those horses, then. Let's get moving!"

Breaking into a brisk jog, I compel the other Servants to hurry after me so we can reach Thiers quickly, and when we return to the town, St. George approaches the townspeople who've come out to greet us at the sight of returning to ask to borrow their horses while the rest of us stand by at a reasonable distance, in case the townspeople still don't trust us too much.

"Master, have you ever led an army before? Or, a group of soldiers?" Artoria asks me curiously.

"Hm? Oh, uh...no, not...not really?" I scratch my head through my cap, checking how bad the burns are on my jacket and making another mental note to myself to remember to mend them when we get back home. "I've worked and fought with allies before, but nowhere to the extent of something like this." I gesture around to the other Servants with us. Artoria pulls on a face of moderate surprise.

"Oh...you just seem like such a natural leader," Saber remarks. "You fight alongside your Servants, you speak and act with deliberation and decisiveness...you seem like you have the experience, and yet you told us that you knew very little of the Holy Grail War..."

I smile both darkly and awkwardly at the same time. "I'll be honest, I'm just acting the way I know how. I don't actually know how to be or act like a real leader, and I'll be honest again, I don't know if I want to. But then again, you and I might have different ideas on what a 'leader' is, or what 'being a leader' entails."

"You told us before that you're much more familiar with working alone," Lily recalls, "but you can work with a group of Servants just fine."

"That's true, but let me tell ya," I give my Servants a wry little smile, "working with people who don't vehemently oppose what I'm doing and will cooperate with the bullshit I make you all go through so that I get to do things my way is, admittedly, really damn convenient." I also put a hand on Tamamo's shoulder. "Which includes making you worry about me all the time."

"You're damn right about that!" Tamamo yelps, making quite a few of us laugh, myself included.

"So me fighting alongside you guys, me making decisive decisions about what we should do next and all that stuff, that's just...how I'd normally operate. It's got nothing to do with me being an actual leader, or having legitimate leadership skills. It's just a mere coincidence for now. Maybe, given enough time when I learn how to better fight with you all and know how Servants are like in general, I'll be able to better myself as an actual Master. For now, though, everything I'm doing is what I already know how to do...or, at least, what I _think_ I know how to do. Sorry if I gave that sort of impression, I don't mean to, like, trick anyone..."

But Artoria shakes her head. "No, it is alright, Master. And besides, that only means that your potential of being a strong Master is that much greater. It's just that in the past, I have had... _experience_ with Masters who fought with methods and tactics I did not agree with. I am grateful that so far, I have had no reason to object to any of your decisions as our Master."

Even though I might not know what Artoria is specifically referring to, I get the sense of what she's talking about.

"I'll warn you right now, Artoria, I'm a very utilitarian person too; I'll do whatever it takes to get something done. So if you catch me doing something that you don't agree with, then I ask for your forgiveness ahead of time. I've done some bad shit in my time, none of which I'm proud of as a human being, and recently I've been doing my best to limit my more unsavory tactics of fighting and whatnot. But just know that I'm not entirely innocent from that, from being Masters like those you mentioned."

Artoria makes a difficult expression on her face as I speak, but she nods anyway.

"I understand, Master. There are, after all, difficult situations we are put through...with choices we cannot easily make. We have all been there."

"Hey, hey, can we, like, stop with all this depressing life talk and stuff? Don't you guys wanna hear my singing? I didn't get a chance to rehearse, after all!" Elizabeth cuts in, evidently getting pretty fed up with our heavier talk.

"It's good for you to hear this too, Liz. Maybe you'll see me do some shit that even you'd disagree with."

Elizabeth just laughs. "Me? Someone like _me_ , disgusted by what you would do? Puh- _lease,_ piggy."

I'm about to retort, but St. George reaches us again.

"They've agreed to lend us horses for everyone here," George says with relief. "I informed them that your intervention has kept the town safe from the wyverns, and they are more than happy to supply us with their horses."

"Cool. Let's get over to Orleans, then."


	46. Rat Transport

We spend most of the day traveling to Orleans - I've had some riding experience in the past, as Tierra del Illamas has a few stables and people offer riding classes; hell, the town's even got designated horse trails in certain parts of the town, though it's very easy to say that my horseriding skills are _very_ rusty, and I wasn't even that good to begin with. We do eventually have to ditch the horses, however, since they got exhausted and we obviously can't just stick around for the horses, so we dropped them off at a small town that luckily hasn't been found by Jalter's wyvern forces and continued on, with Tamamo reluctantly agreeing to transport everyone on her magic mirrors to cover the rest of the way.

It's just about dusk when we spot the French Army encampment south of Orleans on our magic mirrors.

"Jeanne, everyone, we're almost at the French encampment," I relay to the Orleans group of Servants. "Landing in three minutes."

The Orleans Servants are already waiting for us at our designated landing zone, and Jeanne and Marie hurry over to us, me in particular, when we do land and hop off Tamamo's mirrors.

"Where's the Marshal?" I ask Jeanne, sparing no time for niceties.

"He is in his tent. Right this way..."

Jeanne leads us over to one of the bigger tents, probably the headquarters of the French Army. The French soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the canvas tent step aside to allow Jeanne and Marie in, but when I try to follow them in, the guards roughly stop me, growling at me in French, which I obviously don't understand. Jeanne quickly gives a few words to them, and the guards swiftly step aside once more, and I give them both an understanding grin that bears them no ill will. They're just doing their jobs, after all.

"You guys stand by outside, hopefully this won't take long," I instruct the rest of the Servants before heading inside.

Jeanne and Marie are already greeting the tall, lanky man in infantry armor in the middle of the tent, whom I presume to be the Marshal, with several other men in armor standing by and looking on. As I walk in to approach them, Jeanne hears me approach and turns to me, gesturing to me and speaking to the Marshal in French. I can only assume that she's introducing me, since the Marshal takes a few steps towards me and extends his own hand, which I shake. He then starts speaking in French, which, again, I don't understand, so I just stand there giving the Marshal nods and a smile like I know what he's talking about, which I really don't.

"This is Marshal Gilles de Rais, the one I spoke to you about earlier today," Jeanne introduces for him, knowing that either she or Marie have to step in as my translator. "He says that he's very thankful for what you've managed to accomplish in this short amount of time. Your efforts in securing the Servants and skirmishing with Jalter's forces have actually been instrumental in buying the Marshal and the French Army valuable time to consolidate their forces and be in this position to threaten to take back Orleans from the enemies."

I keep nodding. "Ask him if he's okay with letting me know what his plans are for taking the city."

So Jeanne relays this question to him in French.

"He says that now that we Servants can assist the army in their assault on Orleans, he plans to attack very soon. The problem that the army has is that the artillery units are in need of ammunition, and they are still waiting for the ammunition to arrive. Once the artillery has their ammunition, the army can then move out with the artillery to cover the infantry, but currently the army doesn't know when the supplies will arrive."

"Well, specifically, the Marshal said that their supply line that was supposed to transport their ammunition is stalled and is having some difficulty reaching them," Marie corrects Jeanne slightly. "Either way, the Marshal does not wish to advance his troops without the artillery to support them. He has stated before, before you came, Master, that the artillery units have oftentimes been their only lifeline against the marauding groups of wyverns, so he does not feel comfortable moving out without them, even with us Servants accompanying them."

Supply line trouble? Sounds like a day at the office.

"Ask him to give me the details for this situation," I say assertively, narrowing my eyes as I know this is a problem that I at least try to help solve. "This supply line stuff, I do this for a living."

"This - this is that 'business' you mentioned earlier?" Jeanne asks, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah."

So Jeanne asks the Marshal in French, and de Rais beckons to me to follow him to a rickety wooden table, and he orders one of the soldiers who're in the tent with us to fetch some maps, which the soldier retrieves from one of the leather bags sitting along the side of the tent, and the Marshal rolls them out to cover the table so that we can take a look. Continuing to speak, de Rais points at one location on the map - the nearby city of Bourges.

"The last received message from the convoy team stated that they were located in the town of Bourges," Marie interprets for me as I hear someone also walk into the tent, seeing that it's Chevalier d'Eon. "The Marshal has not heard back from them since, and it has been two days. He is afraid that perhaps the wyverns may have gotten to them..."

"Bourges isn't _too_ far from here. I'll take a few Servants with me to find the supply team, and I'll let you guys know what we find," I determine. "We'll report back on what we find."

Jeanne translates this for the Marshal, who worriedly converses back to her.

"He asks if this is really alright with you, Master," Jeanne says, also sharing de Rais's concern. "He says that this is really something he should have his own soldiers do."

"We're looking to resolve this Singularity as fast as we can. Sending soldiers down to Bourges to investigate's gonna take too long, and the more time we give Jalter, the worse off we'll be," I shake my head. "I want this Singularity done and over with by tomorrow at most."

"Master, you must be tired from all your traveling today, do you not think it wise to rest?" d'Eon also asks. I'm more used to Tamamo asking me a question like that, to be perfectly honest.

"Tired, yes, but that won't stop me," I say calmly. "I'll go get my team together, and we're leaving right away."

"Wait, Master, have you eaten _anything_ at all today?" Jeanne asks, suddenly realizing this.

"No, but again, that won't stop me."

"Master!"

I conveniently ignore Jeanne's cry over my well-being and head outside, with d'Eon, hesitating a bit, heading out after me in case she can be of use.

"Alright, here's what's going on," I announce to my Servants - this is when I realize just how many Servants I have, now that they're all in one place. "The Marshal wants his artillery units to have ammunition for the battle to take back Orleans. The problem is that their supply line that should've been bringing that ammo to the army's gone dark, and their last known location was in the town of Bourges, just south of here."

"Bourges...that is the town we passed on our way here, I do believe," St. George notes.

"Right. So I'm gonna head down there to investigate the situation, and when we find out what happened, we'll report back to you guys here and figure out things from there."

"Wait, as in, _you're leaving right now?!"_ Tamamo screeches again, as she is apt to do by this point.

"Yeah. Can't waste time, the Marshal says the army needs that ammo and the more time we let go by, the stronger Jalter's army gets, since we'll be giving her all this time to summon even more wyverns and maybe even Berserk Servants."

"Why not simply attack now?" Salter scoffs quietly. "Why must we wait for inconsequential ammunition for those toys that this army uses? Just between us Servants here, we can obliterate the enemy forces on our own."

"Maybe. But now that I've met the Marshal and now that they're our allies, I'm not gonna try to boss him around just because we're stronger," I say sternly. "This is his army, and as an outsider, I'm not about to go against the Marshal. I'd rather do things his way and work with it to get our job done, provided there isn't anything glaringly wrong with what he's doing as far as strategies go. And besides, it's nighttime now, I think it's better for us in general if we fight during the day, and in the meantime while we're waiting for tomorrow, we might as well see if we can get that ammo that the artillery units are waiting for over here."

"My, my, how hardworking ~ " Kiyohime coos. "I shall volunteer to go with you, Master."

"Thanks. But I'll also need Matthew, Tamamo, Martha, and Marie," I glance around at the Servants whose names I've called to recruit, but Marie is still inside the tent. "D'Eon, can you tell Marie that I'll need her to come with me to Bourges?"

"Yes sir, right away." d'Eon goes back into the HQ tent to go fetch Marie for me.

"Master, you really shou - " Tamamo begins to protest, but when I look up to respond to Tamamo, I see that Siegfried has put a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

"Leave him be, Caster," Siegfried murmurs. "I'm sorry for going against your concerns, since you truly do care for Master's well-being, but he is clear that he is a man of action, and it is also clear that he has been through times like these before. Do not try to stop him."

Tamamo falls silent, and the whole group is silent with her, too.

"...but...Master...you haven't eaten or drank anything since yesterday," Lily reminds me. "As - as a matter of fact, the last time you ate or drank anything was...was even before we entered this Singularity. Even if...even if your body _can_ handle that, that...that surely can't be healthy...?"

"It's not, but it won't kill me," I shrug.

"Then at least ask for some provisions before we go," Tamamo snaps her gaze back up. "I won't try to dissuade you from going to Bourges, Master, but for crying out loud, _please at least eat something."_

I slowly gaze back at Tamamo. They're not wrong, I am hungry and thirsty and I know it. It's just...I'm not sure if there's a way to convince them that a full day's worth of no food or water isn't something that bothers me.

I decide that there isn't, so I concede. "Fine, I'll eat something, but it'll be quick, and you know that I'm a fast eater."

"Eat _slowly_ , then!" Tamamo cries.

* * *

After wolfing down some provisions that the Marshal acquires for me at my Servants' request, I make my way down to Bourges with Matthew, Tamamo, Martha, and Marie. Thanks to the relative proximity of Bourges, and to Tamamo's magic mirrors, we'll reach it within the hour.

But for now, we've still got a little ways to go, and Tamamo and I are flying together - thanks to Tamamo. With as much silent sarcasm I can muster, I suspect this is on purpose. Kiyo is also flying with us too, for reasons similar to the rest of the day today, I presume.

"Mages these days...must be really strong, if someone like yourself can go more than a full day fighting and stuff without eating or drinking anything," Tamamo murmurs, almost as if she can't help herself making this kind of a remark.

I roll my eyes, because this is obviously not just some random offhand remark. "Implying?" I mutter back to her, using my comms rune to speak to her with my voice being so low.

"N-Nothing, I'm just saying..."

"Tamamo," I address her directly, giving her a calm but piercing sideways glance. "If there's something more you wanna say, I'd rather just hear it now, loud 'n clear. We've already established to each other that you don't approve of the way I handle things because I'm really hard on myself, but trying to argue that point now when we've already done that plenty of times between yesterday and today isn't going to change anything, clearly. So if there's something you wanna get off your chest, just say it."

Tamamo drops her gaze as I speak.

"...you _did_ say that you'd try to change some of the things you'd do, too," she points out.

"Yeah...clearly that didn't work out so well." I rub my nose - I can ignore hunger well enough, but the physical consequences of not eating properly (or, I should say, not at _all_ ) can't be ignored, since the cold of the night, compounded by the high-altitude winds from us flying in the middle of the night, doesn't make things any better for me. "Though I will say, if we had food more readily available, I wouldn't be against taking time to eat."

"Then maybe I should bring meals already prepared with us?" Tamamo mumbles.

"But I'm not too sure how I feel about you carrying food around. Unless you've got something for that."

"You have that magical storage, don't you?"

"I mainly use it for my weapons, though. Carrying food in it isn't ideal."

"But why not? It's not like you're actually carrying your weapons around."

"Actually..." I glance back at Tamamo, "...I am."

"Huh?" Tamamo sharply looks at me. "W-What do you mean by that?"

"The technique I use that makes my magic storage possible is called Rune Storage," I explain. "It's very similar to the technique I use to create multiple rooms in the same space back at home - I establish a finite space that I tether to myself so I have access to it at all times. But when I say that I tether it to myself, specifically, I'm connecting it to my own senses - so everything I put in there, it's as if I'm holding everything in real life, though I don't actually have to hold anything. It's just added weight, and up to a limit I'm okay with dealing with that weight. Any more, though, and I just can't fight or operate optimally."

Tamamo squeezes her eyes together with a painful smile.

"Master, it seems like...the more I learn about you, the more I realize that you do a lot of things that just...put all this extra difficulty on yourself in the name of efficiency," Tamamo speaks in earnest. "Have you...always been this way?"

I smirk a little. "Need you even ask."

"Oh dear..."

"I've never tried keeping it a secret, though. Maybe I never said it explicitly, but if you think about all the things you've seen me act and behave, I think it's fair to say that I'm a guy who tries working as efficiently as possible."

"But at the cost of your own health?"

"Small price to pay. And if I recall correctly, there _are_ mages out there who don't give a shit about their own health when they're researching whatever fucking stupid-ass ways to reach the Root or whatever..." My eye twitches. "That's what the 'normal' mages would do. And I would always put myself at risk than other people, I'll tell you _that_ right now. That, and unfortunately, I'm one of the few who thinks that way, from what little number of other mages I've personally met or run into."

"Then, with a mentality like that, you must've put yourself through some hard times..."

I laugh shortly. "'Some', eh? Yeah, sounds about right."

"So it's even _worse_ than that...?"

"Remember the night when I came back with that broken arm?" I recall. "Now imagine that, without you girls there to help heal it, and that's how most of my early freelance work as a mage went. Only, with injuries a lot worse than just a broken arm."

"But why...?"

"I mentioned this before: the only person who ever taught me magecraft of any kind was my dad, and he couldn't teach me for very long because he died shortly after I graduated from high school; his health was already failing when I was still in school anyway, so all things considered, he didn't teach me much - but he did teach me the basics and showed me how to use this particular style of magecraft that I use, or, I should say, he taught me just enough to show me how to teach myself from that point on. Also, when my dad died, not only did I take over his business, but I also took over his role as Resident Guardian of his territory in the area that I live. All his responsibilities were then my responsibilities, and since his health was failing, there were lots of things he couldn't take care of because he was just too weak by that point, and he wanted to live as long as he could for the sake of teaching me as much as he could before his time came. The rest I had to learn...the hard way."

I cough a few times, probably from the cold.

"Are you cold, Master? If you are not afraid of fire, I can wrap you in my flames to help ward away the cold," Kiyohime offers.

"You're just gonna end up _burning_ him like certain _other_ times, so don't!" Tamamo protests suddenly. "And besides that, what're you doing, eavesdropping on an important conversation like this?!"

"I was already here when you decided to speak with Master. I hardly see how I am to shoulder any blame here in this situation," Kiyohime retorts matter-of-factly.

"Er, hopefully we weren't bothering you with any of this," I also mention. "And no, I'll be fine."

Kiyohime shakes her head. "It feels comforting to hear you talk, Master, even if it does amount to nothing more than idle conversation. I feel like I could listen to you all day and all night."

I can't help but smile. I know those words sound like a dangerous remark, but I find them soft on my ears in their own twisted way.

"And anyways, if the hard way entailed coming home with a shattered ribcage, a broken ankle, and the right side of my skull caved halfway in, then so be it," I sigh quietly, continuing where Tamamo and I left off. To this day, I can still recall perfectly that particular moment when my head got caved in, and I chuckle to myself. "You gon' learn today."

"And so that's why you work like this? Because that's what you know how to do best?"

"More like, it's pretty much the _only_ way that I know," I admit. "I'm _very_ inflexible in that regard. You know that the best out of anyone."

Tamamo smiles painfully again. "Yeah, it sure seems like it, doesn't it."

"To be fair, you're the only one who keeps bringing it up."

"Maybe I should just be a good girl and be like everyone else, huh?"

"I'm not telling you to do anything, not in respect to this. I'm a pretty self-conscious person, and I always like telling myself that I know what my flaws are, but that doesn't mean anything if I don't do anything to try to change those flaws. Having someone who can keep reminding me that my flaws still exist isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, since having someone else point out the shit you're doing is a lot different than telling yourself those things."

I gaze off into the dark nighttime horizon.

"Maybe this time around, with you guys, I'll actually do something about my problems, rather than just sit on them and pretend like I don't need to fix them," I mutter. "Since now, I'm not just fixing my problems for myself, but for you guys, too."

My words are making Tamamo quite uneasy, judging by her countenance when I glance back at her.

"...I'm sorry, Master, I didn't...I didn't mean to make you start some sort of self-reflection..." Tamamo says quietly back to me. "I only meant to point out what, what I thought was a problem, I didn't...mean to try to bring up any others that you might think you have..."

"Nah, it's fine," I shake my head reassuringly. "But I will just say right now, you'll have to deal with me heading out there to fight a lot."

"Just don't get hurt, okay? I'll get upset if you get hurt," Tamamo pouts.

"Well... _that_ I can't promise."

"Master, I think I see the town!" St. Martha hollers over at us, not bothering to use the comms rune, and so Tamamo and I peer out to confirm, and sure enough, the sight of a town starts looming closer on the ground.

"Town looks empty," I hypothesize from afar, judging by the lack of general movement from the town - no lights, no guards, no anything. "It might've gotten attacked..."

Tamamo brings us down once I've performed another Comsat Scan to make sure that the area is clear, and upon closer inspection, sure enough, the town has clear signs of a wyvern attack, with buildings sporting vicious and huge claw marks and bite marks and blood and corpses scattered about.

"Down there!" Marie points to the west side of town, and she tosses a glass rose down at the area she's referring to, and when it hits the ground, it flashes brightly with luminescent mana like a magic flare, and we can all clearly see the remnants of the supply convoy that was supposed to deliver the artillery ammunition to the army by now.

"Jeanne, do you read?" I activate my comms rune again to get in touch with Jeanne.

 _"Yes, Master, loud and clear. Did you reach Bourges?"_

"Yeah, bad news, the supply convoy's got attacked by wyverns some time ago," I relay to them as we touch down to investigate the area. "No survivors."

 _"Oh no...then...then we need to dispatch a group to head down to Bourges to retrieve the supplies - "_

"No need, we'll handle this ourselves. But first..." I look around while Tamamo is providing more light with her magic mirrors that shine mana-powered light in the area so that I can see clearly, even though I have night vision thanks to my own magecraft, and I spot what appears to be the ammunition crates that hold the cannonballs for the artillery units of the French Army. "Found it."

 _"Found what?"_

"The ammo. Let me see..."

Going up to it, I check the condition of the ammunition. The crates were being transported by horse and donkey-drawn wagons or carriages, the remnants of which are very much so visible since the ammo crates are still inside. Some of the wagons are still intact, but many of them have been knocked over, torn up, etc., but for the most part the ammo crates themselves seem to still be in good condition, with the exception of the crates that've been broken open during the battle between the wyverns and the soldiers here.

"St. Martha - " I call out to Martha, but she quickly cuts me off.

"You don't need to call me 'Saint', just Martha is fine!" she calls over, but she hurries over to me nonetheless. "Anyways, did you need something, Master?"

"Yeah, we need to grab all the crates here that have ammo and that're still in good condition to be transported and put them in one place so it's easy for us to manage them," I instruct her.

"What about us?" Tamamo asks, with Marie and Kiyohime also in tow.

"You wanna help out, too?"

"Well, why else would we be here?"

"Alright, grab some crates and let's move 'em away. Oh, and Kiyohime, please don't use your fire here, the flames could damage the quality of the cannonballs and make it dangerous for the cannon to shoot them..."

"That is alright. I, as a Servant, am stronger than I look," Kiyohime giggles softly, and sure enough, she goes and aids Tamamo manually with a heavy crate of ammunition.

We consolidate the crates that can still be transported. Out of a total of about seventy crates, forty-seven of them are still in good condition, with another eleven that are damaged but still transportable. Several more are actually salvageable, but that involves repairing the crates themselves, and we're not equipped to do that at the moment.

"Okay," I dust my hands off after we've consolidated the ammo crates that we can take, "Marie, this is where you come in. I need you to make enough glass wagons to help us transport everything here, and a glass basket or something so that Martha's dragon can carry it in its mouth or something. Can you do this?"

Marie looks both concerned and hesitant. "I _can_ , but...to transport these, it will most certainly consume a lot of mana," Marie laments aloud. "Mademoiselle Tamamo has expressed many concerns about depleting too much mana from you, and...you have not been able to replenish your mana properly as of recently..."

"Don't worry about me, I wanna know if that's an option."

"Yes, it is."

"Then if you will, please."

Taking a deep breath, Marie complies with my order, and shining bright light seeps into the air around us as she magically conjures glass wagons and carriages, one at a time, next to the crates. Marie was right about taking up a whole ton of mana, I can feel myself getting drained to the point where it actually starts to hurt, like the pain and discomfort of lactic acid building up in your muscles when you're doing a hard workout or running for a long time, but I keep it in, it's nothing I can't handle.

Once Marie also makes that big glass basket, I turn to Martha.

"Get Tarrasque out here and have him help us load these things if he can," I ask Martha, who promptly does as I ask, and her dragon stomps into view behind her.

"Tarrasque, help us load these crates. Fill up that basket first," Martha instructs her dragon, who grunts and nabs one crate with his mouth to place inside the basket. Martha, Tamamo, Marie, and I load the rest of the crates onto the wagons, and once that's done, I have Marie produce another team of horses to pull the wagons, and Tamamo provides the magical ropes and harnesses so that Marie can at least somewhat limit the amount of mana she's using to make all this happen.

Once I carefully review our own homemade convoy and affirm that everything checks out, I give the girls a thumbs up.

"Alright, we're all good, let's move out!"

"Understood ~ ! Everyone, let's go!" Marie calls to her glass horses, who neigh and begin trotting briskly, and Martha, riding atop Tarrasque who holds the glass basket with his mouth, also sets off, leading our little fairy tale convoy. Seeing them from above on Tamamo's mirror, I realize that this is quite a weird sight to behold, but whatever works is all I care for.

"Jeanne, we're moving the supplies we could salvage now, we're on our way," I report.

 _"Understood, Master, I'll let the Marshal know!"_

"So this is your job looks like back home, huh?" Tamamo mentions to me once I'm done talking with Jeanne, with Kiyohime flying quite close too. "I didn't think it'd look quite like this."

"Normally it's a little bit more believable than a dragon and a bunch of glass horses transporting artillery cannonballs, but yeah, pretty much," I snort sarcastically, making Tamamo and Kiyohime break into a bit of a laugh themselves.


	47. Faker

My little ammunition-recovery party returns to the French Army safely and without incident, and Jeanne and the rest of the Servants are there to receive us. I have the Servants, those who are willing, anyway, help the troops unload the ammo for the soldiers to the artillery units while Jeanne and Marie and I return to the headquarters tent so that the Marshal can debrief us the last few details of our final attack tomorrow.

"Will you be participating in the final battle tomorrow, Master?" Jeanne asks me as Marie and I exit the tent.

"Yeah. Don't wanna miss out on this party," I shake my head.

"Thankfully, tomorrow's battle will most likely be the last, as Jeanne said," the queen mentions worriedly. "I sensed that your body was being taxed very heavily by my gratuitous consumption of mana, even if you did a fantastic job hiding that, Master. And to add to Jeanne's question, I would like to ask if it is even safe for you to send all of us into battle tomorrow."

"That's true," Jeanne sighs quickly, stopping suddenly and compelling me and Marie to stop with her. "Master, this is with all due respect and consideration for you as our Master that I remind you that you now have fourteen Servants under your command in total. You have been supplying mana to all of us indiscriminately and equally, _on top of_ participating in battle yourself and using your own mana stores quite liberally. Marie has informed me that tonight, you seemed to near your limit, and I myself can sense it too, if only somewhat faintly. It is _not_ a wise idea to deploy all of us as you have the past several days for tomorrow's battle."

I turn to Marie. "That true, Marie?" I ask her quietly. "That you told her that I was 'reaching my limit' or something?"

"W-Well, I - " Marie hesitates, as if she's realizing now that I'm very particular on word choice, and she resignedly admits, "yes, I...I told her that I thought you were nearing your limit."

"While I don't blame you for thinking that, I do think that 'nearing my limit' is a little bit misleading," I fold my arms slowly. "Yeah, I definitely felt it when I had you use your Noble Phantasm to help transport that ammo tonight, but that's not my limit. I can say that with confidence."

Jeanne gives me this look of mixed amazement and horror; it's a pretty unique expression, and I've only ever seen it a few times in my own life, this time included.

"Master...you..." the French Saint averts her gaze downwards. "...you have no intention of sitting this one out, do you?"

"I prefer to see my responsibilities through to the end," I nod slowly, not unfolding my arms quite yet. "Again, to reiterate, I've been tasked to help resolve this Singularity and others like it - well, not just 'help', but _be the one_ to resolve them. Something about the idea of coming all this way, fighting and working and traveling for the past two days or so just to sit out the final battle doesn't sit well with me. Maybe the fact that I know what that feels like to begin with has something to do with it."

This is the point in time when I unfold my arms.

"Anyways, let's get everyone together so I can explain our mission details for tomorrow," I tell them. "I'll make sure to meditate and get a good night's rest to replenish as much mana as I can."

"Yes, please...please do," Jeanne nods, very clearly worried for me, and Marie shares the same countenance. I give them both a small smile, a small recompense for their troubles.

"If in the case that I do become too depleted with mana or die to injury or the like, I'll take this opportunity right now to tell you both that I appreciate your concerns. Maybe this is a bit too direct and straightforward of a thank you, especially when we've barely known each other for, what, two days or something, but...please bear in mind that this is coming from a guy who's traditionally never had to give very many thanks in the way of anything."

I pause, thinking back on my most recent words.

"No, sorry, let me rephrase that," I murmur quietly. "A guy who's traditionally never had the _chance_ to say thank you to very many people. So...excuse me for my inexperience."

I give them both another quick smile before turning to leave to gather the Servants together, but I note that it takes them both a moment to follow after me.

* * *

After taking about half an hour going over our attack order for tomorrow and dismissing everyone for the night, I've retired for the night to a small tent that Matthew and Lily have set up for me in my absence to go deliver the artillery ammunition. It's already nearing dawn, which means I have less than six hours at most for sleep, but I do need to meditate to help boost my mana regeneration rate.

Lighting a fire in the middle of the tent, which has no furnishings whatsoever, I sit down, take off my jacket and my fingerless gloves and cap, and set them neatly behind me before facing the small fire I've made. Not having any wood wasn't really a hindrance...though it would've been nice, and if I were to go out there to chop wood now, Jeanne and the others won't let me hear the end of it. So I make do with what I've got.

Sitting cross-legged with my back up straight, I relax my neck and the rest of my body, setting my hands lightly and calmly on the sides of my knees, in order to meditate. I haven't really taken any proper meditation classes, so it might seem strange that I resort to meditation at all. But over the years, during my (somewhat) frequent personal introspections, one of the things I've discovered about myself is that I have a natural disposition to deal with hardship and stress by clearing my mind and cutting off all thought. I'm sure this tendency is very similar to other well-established teachings out there - zen, for example, if that's a proper example to use here, even.

I clear my mind of thoughts - in fact, I go further than that, and I just cut off all mental activity altogether, save for feedback that my physical and magical senses receive and natural bodily activities like breathing and heartbeat. It's come to my attention that I've been able to do this with uncannily extraordinary ability, that for most people, being able to do such a thing usually should take years of meditation practice or something to achieve, but for me it's always come naturally.

Because for someone like me, thoughts and emotions are heavier than physical things at times. I don't say that just to sound like an emotional wreck, I say that because when I say I get tired, it usually means that I'm getting _mentally_ tired - my body can last for far longer than my mind can in terms of raw endurance. And when my mind gets tired, thinking and making decisions are what get affected first. And as for the emotions part, it's very common for human beings in general to let emotions get the better of them when they get tired or hungry or the like, and I'm no different - and letting myself be driven on emotions tires me out even more.

So once I realized this about myself, I set out to fix this, or at least devise a solution that would help me mitigate this tendency, and meditation was what I found. Clearing my mind of thoughts and emotions, the things I found to be burdens oftentimes heavier than the weapons I hold in my hands at times, was just the natural course of logic. No need to complicate things, just think of the simple things first and see if they work. Trial and error, just like I'd always tried. The simple stuff doesn't _always_ work, admittedly, but that's just life - and sometimes, you might get lucky and find that the simple solutions are just objectively the better ones. This is one of those lucky times, I suppose.

It turned out that to be a very convenient discovery - I didn't intend to use meditation as a means to increase my mana regeneration rate at first, I just wanted a way to help myself deal with some tough things I was going through at the time. The whole meditation boosting my mana regeneration rate was just a secondary effect, but as soon as I noticed it, I've always kept it in mind for times like these when I'm hard-pressed for mana. My personal theory on why this works is that by clearing my mind of its usual human mental activity, the brain has a lot more room to concentrate on the involuntary activities, like heartbeat rate, breathing, and, in this case, mana regeneration.

To clarify, as you've probably been able to tell due to my particular word choice, meditation doesn't actually _directly_ generate mana for me. All I'm doing is helping my body regenerate mana a slightly faster rate. I've actually done some testing and if I've done my calculations correctly, which may not be accurate anyway, I regenerate mana about twelve percent faster. It's not an incredible boost, but it's something, and something is better than nothing, at least in this case.

And besides, doing this now is perfect timing. Lots of things have happened in the past two days - fighting, meeting new Servants and people, and the like. So in this sense, meditation is similar to sleeping for me, in that my mind subconsciously takes all the information I've accrued and organizes them so that I remember more of them more clearly and readily, though sleeping still does a better job than that anyway.

"Master?"

I hear Lily's voice from the outside, and the dampened sound of a canvas flap being lifted up comes from directly ahead of me, but I ignore it, not because I'm too busy meditating, but to see how Lily will respond to the sight of me meditating like this.

At first, I don't hear anything for a few moments, but I then hear Lily's metal boots clamp against the dirt a few times before I hear a mystical _whoosh,_ eliminating the loud metal clinks. Lily then sits down next to me, but she says nothing, though I can feel her soft gaze planted on me.

"Lily? What are - "

"Shh...!"

It sounds like Artoria is also here, though I hear two sets of footsteps rather than one. Just like Lily before them, both of the two newcomers, one of whom includes Artoria, step lightly into my small tent, also dissipating their armor like Lily before them and sitting down with me, this time to my right, as Lily has seated herself to my left.

And they just sit there with me. It doesn't bother me or break my concentration on meditating, but it's both intriguing and comforting to have people with me while I meditate. Clearing your mind of all rational thought and emotion tends to leave you feeling pretty empty, after all, since that's what it's meant to do. Because as heavy as thoughts and emotions are, for someone like me who tends to be a loner who doesn't mind forgoing human contact for extended periods of time, oftentimes my only measure of self-defense against the nightmare that is self-perceived solitude.

I'm surprised Tamamo hasn't crashed the party yet...maybe she's hanging out with Kiyohime for the night. Or, however unlikely, maybe she's dwelling on the stuff I told her on our way over to Bourges. As much as she just seems like the ditzy, crazy clingy foxy waifu that she is, being part of the magical world, strange demeanors are often facades for more sensitive cutaways underneath.

But enough about Tamamo.

Without warning, I open my eyes and look up to indeed find the three Artoria's sitting with me around the tiny, dim fire I've made in the center of my cramped little tent that can barely even fit all four of us sitting down.

"Thanks for joining me," I smile pleasantly at everyone. "I don't really know the occasion, but I appreciate it nonetheless."

"Oh, no, I - it's because of...because of me, Master," Lily mumbles shyly. Indeed, the three Artoria's aren't wearing their armor right now, which leaves them in their dresses underneath. I've only seen Lily with her normal armor-less dress, but I've never seen either Saber or Saber Alter without their respective armors.

Needless to say, they all look lovely.

"Did you need me for something, then?" I ask Lily.

"Er, well, nothing in particular..." Lily says quickly. "It's just that, um, I heard from the Servants that you were...running dangerously low on mana, so - "

I narrow my eyes - rumors are starting to spread, huh. Lily cuts herself off, and I realize it's because she thinks I'm looking at her with suspicion.

"So you guys think I'm running out of mana, huh," I sigh a bit heavily, letting my overall exhaustion from the day seep in my voice.

"Yes, that's...that is the general concern that we, your Servants, have," Artoria says, also with concern - that seems to be a recurring phrase as of late.

"But you are not _truly_ depleted of mana, no?" Salter asks without looking my way.

"No. While I'm not trying to deny that this wide distribution to mana to fourteen Servants at once is affecting me, I will say that it's mainly because I'm not used to this situation, and even more so because we're in the middle of combat, where everyone's seeing active duty. Give me time, and my body'll adapt."

"Then...is that why you were meditating just now, Master?" Artoria asks.

"Yeah. In my experience, meditating like this helps my body regenerate mana faster. I'd like to clarify that and specify that it's not direct mana _generation_ , but just the rate at which my body just naturally produces mana, hence _regeneration_."

"If that is the case, then why not go directly to sleep, Master?" Salter points out. "It would appear to me that meditation and sleep are, for you, fundamentally identical. In fact, sleep would be more efficient."

"Aye, I agree with that. It's just that I like meditating - to me, there's a difference between going to sleep and letting your subconscious sort out what's in your head and manually doing that on your own."

The conversation reaches a dead end with my words, and all of us, barring Salter, gaze into the small fire that I've made in the center for warmth and light.

"Master, if I may," Artoria says slowly.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"When you were discussing tomorrow's battle plans with us, I don't believe you mentioned what you yourself would do during it," Artoria points out. "And given your history of activity for the past two days ever since we entered this Singularity, it is the natural to assume that you yourself will be participating in the attack. Do you have any plans of your own for this battle tomorrow?"

"Not really. I plan to be general army support and I'll come in wherever I feel like I'm needed," I reply. "But if the opportunity presents itself, I'll go straight for Jalter if she shows up."

"Have you take into consideration the possibility of the enemy moving the Grail to another location during the course of the battle?" Salter asks with the cold calmness that I've come to know her for.

"Yeah - I've told the Marshal to send out some cavalry from this army to wrap around the city during the night to make sure the Grail isn't being moved overnight; I've cast detection runes on them so that if the Grail moves past them, I'll know. I've also done a wide scan to cover the city, and I felt a big magical presence inside the Orleans castle, which I assume to be the Grail."

"You assume that it is the Grail, but what if it is not?"

"It's only been two days since this Singularity opened. With everything that Jalter and her army's been doing, I doubt they have time to even try to relocate the Grail to begin with, but as you're implying, extra precautions never hurt anybody," I nod. "And in the case that it _isn't_ the Grail, then we'll just have to search for it, or, even better, beat it outta Jalter once we find her."

"From what we little we know about her, she seems like she'll be quite uncooperative, though," Lily mumbles sadly.

"Oh, don't worry about that." I crack my knuckles slowly, and it's not a coincidence. "I've got ways to make people talk. It's a skill that I'm unfortunately very good at..."

Both Artoria and Lily look uncomfortable at those words, but Salter doesn't flinch.

"I, too, would like to ask you directly," Saber Alter says, finally turning to gaze at me as everyone else turns back to her. "That fox has already mentioned this once or twice, but your mana does not feel like the quality of a true mage - a weaker quality, you could say."

"Alter!" Artoria speaks out suddenly, as if Salter just threw a grave insult at my face. "I do not approve of you belittling the strength of our Master in such a - "

"Calm your tongue, King of Knights, for these words were not meant to insult," Salter snaps coldly as usual. "That being said, despite your low-quality mana and your relative youth, you clearly have mastery over magecraft and have participated in many battles that we as your Servants do not know of, qualities that compensate for your inexperience as a Master."

I think I know where Salter is getting at.

"You're suspicious of me as a mage, I take it?" I ask her softly.

"Specifically that if we were to use the so-called 'modern' mages that I, and by extension, this King of Knights, know as a basis, you do not qualify as a mage. Yet the things you are capable of cannot be called anything other than magecraft, and as I have stated just now, your lack of experience as a Master is made up for by your competence as a warrior."

"But you weren't even in our group earlier today."

"I asked of the King of Knights your exploits," Salter replies smoothly. "She recounted the details of your actions against the Dragon Witch, the one you refer to as 'Jalter'. As the King of Knights is unlikely to bend the truth about you, I take her words as genuine."

"Hmph."

"You still recall my desire to see just how powerful you are, yes? That brief spar we had in the park?"

"Yeah, of course."

"It is clear from the actions you have taken in this Singularity that you are strong; that cannot be contested," Saber Alter determines. "However, now my question is _how_ you are this powerful."

"That is quite enough, Alter. Asking of Master his secrets is not something we as his Servants should inquire about," Artoria says sternly and firmly.

"Hmm?" Artoria Alter slowly but keenly gazes back at her vanilla self. "This, coming from the one who insists that she and her Master share their identities and skills in a proper Holy Grail War?"

"Yes, in order to best formulate a battle strategy with my Master to defeat the other Servants and Masters. However, this is a much different Holy Grail War, where such a particular strategy is clearly not needed thanks to the presence and cooperation of other Servants against a common enemy."

Artoria then slowly glances over at me, though.

"...and, I beg your pardon if you find this condescending in any way, Master," she continues meticulously, "but I feel that you are a Master who prefers to keep some things a secret."

I scratch the back of my head. "It's not that I prefer to keep things a secret, it's just that I have no real reason to share them with you, but I don't mean that in a bad way either," I admit. "As in, I'd rather that there be context behind me telling you things about myself. If I just tell you guys my sob story, that just produces unnecessary tension and all that."

"Oh? So you do have some story to tell," Salter coos, smiling ever so slightly.

"Alter..." Artoria growls lowly.

"Let her do what she wants, Artoria. I can tell Salter's just like that," I tell Saber. "If you're concerned that her behavior might bother me, don't be, since it doesn't. Now, if you're _personally_ annoyed with her conduct, then I can't help that."

Giving another sigh, I hold my hands over the fire to warm them up a little.

"But, your intuition's right, Salter," I confirm. "My mana shouldn't be that much better than a regular human's - in fact, I'd say that for a 'conventional' mage, it's hard for them to tell me apart from just another normie if I were consciously suppressing my mana signature, and even if I weren't, to them, I'd just seem like some weird normie with maybe some latent magic circuits or something that're active for some bizarre reason, or however that works. So in that sense, I can't use actual magic, the magic that you're more familiar with, the magic that 'regular' mages typically use...the 'accepted' forms of magic or whatever."

I pause again.

"...I get the feeling I've talked about this before," I wonder aloud.

"You have, but only briefly," Lily says. "As in, not too much detail..."

"Oh, that so." I turn my hands around so that the backs can be warmed up. "That's one of the reasons why I don't speak very highly of the Mages' Association and other established organizations of magic, if you remember, Lily." Lily nods. "Those guys obviously only accept their own forms of magic and see anything that isn't theirs as improper or heretical, depending on the organization. Thus, you can imagine what they think when they realize that someone like me exists."

"It seems you have run into a fair bit of trouble with these such people," Salter notes.

"Yeah. At one point, I was even on some sort of hit list, a list of people they wanted assassinated," I scratch my chin. "But that was at one point, I don't think they're coming after me now."

"And why exactly did they take fault with you and your magic? It does not seem malevolent, and I have seen truly horrifying and reproachable magic," Artoria asks for her part.

I gaze slowly over at Saber.

"Because it's fake," I answer with the smallest sarcastic grin I can make. "My magic is fake. The 'magecraft' that I know isn't even magecraft at all. You give me a proper magic textbook or tell me to go study at the Clock Tower or something and I'll fail all my classes and flunk out of the Tower if they didn't already kill me by then. Not because I'm a bad student, though I'll admit to not liking studying for tests, but because I wouldn't be able to produce any of the magic that they do."

"Then that means...this style of magecraft is your only option," Lily concludes.

"Right. Basically, I'm just a normal human who happened to have a father who, like me, was also a normal human, but he was exposed to the magic world and decided to make magic a part of his life. His situation was really complicated, to say the least, but in the end, he decided that he wished for me, as his son, to be exposed to it as well in a way that I would have the freedom to choose whether or not I wanted to get involved with it myself. To that end, he spent years creating...this."

I produce the magic blue hologram panels that appear into view around me in a 180 degree arc.

"This, again, is called ENIAC," I tell them. "Rather, it's not these panels that you see here, but instead the system of 'magic' that my dad created literally just for me. Officially, he created this system so that even normal human beings could have access to and use magic, and theoretically, he's actually right - if I gave this magic 'program' to a friend of mine who doesn't know anything about magic, he, too, could learn how to use magic."

"I see. That means that organizations such as this Clock Tower find fault with your father's work because they view it as a possible threat to their monopoly of sorts over magic," Artoria guesses.

"Essentially, yeah. The problem is that while ENIAC _can_ teach a normal human being to learn how to use magic to proficient levels, it requires so much mana that a normal human being on average wouldn't be able to use it much, which means that, ironically, only an actual mage can pick this up and learn it for themselves, if for some weird reason they actually were interested in this, which the vast majority of mages aren't. So that's why I said that this program was something my dad basically developed just for me, because I'm a normal human being with an abnormal mana supply."

I find that I've already gone back to gazing into the fire.

"So off this basis, I can confidently say that I am _not_ a real mage," I shake my head. "So if I happened to be deceiving any of you that I was, I apologize, since that wasn't my intention. I'm a normie who can use a _form of_ magic, but for all intents and purposes, it's fake."

"But what convinces you so that it is fake?" Artoria asks me suddenly, and the tone of passion in her voice, however slight, rouses my eyes from the fire and back up at Artoria. "Your magic is very effective and strong, Master. So...to hear you call your own magic 'fake' is..."

"Doesn't sit well with you?" I finish for her, and she nods slowly. "Well...I guess I'll admit that the only reason why I call it fake is because the Mages' Association and other well-established schools of magic would and have condemned my magic as fake. I'm not really out here to make a point that my magic is just as authentic as any of theirs, so I go along with it. It doesn't really bother me that they call my magic fake; as a matter of fact, in certain aspects, I'd even agree with them."

"Another inquiry," Salter mentions quickly, almost cutting me off. "If that is the case, if you are not a real mage, then how it is that you are able to summon us Servants?"

A long silence follows Saber Alter's words.

"Y-Yeah...Master, she...Lady Alter has a good point," Lily asks in the tiniest voice I've yet to hear her speak in. "I thought that only...only mages could summon Servants...so...if you're not a real mage...then...how...?"

I start rubbing my chin again. I honestly don't know either.

"I don't know," I admit wholeheartedly. "I guess I've subconsciously convinced myself over the years that I'm some sorta 'pseudo-mage' or something that I never really gave that a thought. If I had to guess, I'd say that since ENIAC still is _'a'_ form of magic, the FATE summoning system still accepts me as a mage for using it. Maybe it's just not very selective..."

"Then if you say that your magic is fake, how is it that you have been able to use it to great effectiveness?" Salter questions. "For how 'fake' you call this magic of yours, you have been able to fight and spar with me using it, and not to mention everything we have done so far in this Singularity."

I shrug.

"Dunno how to answer that, either," I sigh for the third or fourth time or so, I forget, losing count. "I just give it everything I've got - it's always how I've done things. Back when I was training, back when I first became Resident Guardian of my towns and had to start assuming the responsibilities that came with it, to now, resolving Singularities alongside Servants. Might be a cop-out answer, but it's the only one I've got."

"Master, you mentioned that you were...a mercenary, correct? As a side profession," Artoria asks.

"Yeah, sort of. You could even call this mercenary work right now, since I'm contracted with Chaldea to resolve these Singularities."

Artoria gives me an unexpected but warm smile.

"I thought you were the type who didn't really approve of mercs like me," I remark back, feeling the need to say something to this smile.

"Perhaps. But...even if you were to call yourself one, knowing you so far, Master, I would be reluctant to call you as such myself."

"That so..."


	48. History of the King

**A/N:**

 **Da Vinci's event is starting soon, which means I'll most likely be AWOL for nine days. So enjoy this before I go hibernate again.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Wind whips around me even more violently than I remember it doing before. The thing that scares me most about this statement is the fact that every so often, I find myself thinking that. And I, being one of rational thought, one that subconsciously looks for patterns in recurring events such as this, can't see any such pattern, which means I can't come up with an explanation that might expand my knowledge on why the winds are stronger than I remember them.

Because, logically speaking, there will come a point when these winds will be too much for me to handle. What becomes of me then?

No, it's alright. I don't have to worry about that. If that happens, I'll accept what comes after. Whether it be my death, or something worse.

I open my eyes to find myself standing at the cliffside of a tall mountain. The barren wasteland landscape sprawls before me, but I can't even see most of it since there's a sandstorm raging in front of me, and the only reason why I'm not in it is because I'm on top of this mountain.

The winds are raging even harder, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm powerless here - I have no control over this landscape, even though I practically live in it. All I can do is just sit back - or stand back, in my current case - and let it happen.

And sure enough, the winds rage so hard that a strong gust of it throws me forward without warning, and swept off my feet and thrown into the sandstorm below.

As I'm falling, I'm surprised I don't feel scared or anything. I instinctively tried to stop myself by planting a rune in midair, but my magic isn't working. Maybe it's because I called it fake last night.

Either way, I plunge into the sandstorm - but I keep falling for a lot longer of a distance than I should be. It's like I've just completely fallen through the world - maybe I've been pushed into the chasm that I walked beside a couple of nights ago? But I'm still falling through this sandstorm...

* * *

I open my eyes. But it's not my eyesight that sends the first feedback to my brain from my external surroundings, but my sense of smell.

Even before I open my eyes, the smell of blood is overpowering, suffocating. It's not a smell I can forget, I don't think - once you're exposed to it long enough, in large enough quantities, it stains your memory for the rest of your life, and every time you take a whiff of it, you know exactly what it is, no matter what else tries to taint the scent, be it gunpowder, steel, or anything else.

I'm no vampire or Dead Apostle. But I'm not proud of this fact, either - this "skill" to identify what smells like blood.

I see a field, or, what would have been a field if it wasn't literally covered in corpses, bodies of armored soldiers and knights. Before me a hill stands, a hill also composed of even more bodies, all bleeding, all dead.

And at the top, I see a small figure in heavy armor standing, and just as I look up at it, it tears out what appears to be a bloody jousting lance out of the body of an even more heavily armored figure before her, letting that knight it's just impaled collapse slowly to the ground made of steel, chainmail, flesh, and blood.

The figure in the blue dress and armor, after standing where she's killed her opponent for a few long moments, then slowly turns around to me, facing down towards me.

I'd recognize her face.

If it didn't have so many tears marring it.

* * *

I open my eyes. But it's not my eyesight that gives me knowledge of where I am - it's my hearing, as my ears tell me that birds are chirping, the wind is blowing softly, and a pair of very light footsteps crunching moderately against the dirt beneath them passes by.

I see a humble field, one of grass and dirt. A young boy (girl? it's hard to tell) is walking up to a sword embedded in a stone.

I feel like I've read about this story before once.

I watch the boy (girl?) grasp his (her?) hands on the handle of the sword, and with minimal effort, withdraw it from the depository stone.

As if only just noticing me, he (she?) turns to me after marveling for a little bit at the sword he (she?) holds in his (her?) hands, and our eyes meet.

For a second, for two seconds, I don't know exactly how long, but those eyes sure are familiar.

* * *

I open my eyes. This time, I have only my eyes to rely on for information.

 _ **"セイバー！！！！"**_

Blood flies, as I watch a high school-aged teenage boy, armed with two short curved swords, swing them in crossing paths across the chest of a girl in molten black armor, which does absolutely nothing to defend against the blades that sink into them and cut so deeply into the body underneath that just looking at the attack, I know that the blows are instantly fatal. The spine is cut into three pieces, both of her lungs are dissected, and even the top corner of her intestines are struck and severed.

The girl in black collapses first, naturally, but the boy, whose arms are trembling like he's suffering an immediate seizure, follows soon after, flopping backwards like a puppet with its strings cut. The swords that he's used to slay his opponent shatter as soon as they hit the ground of this cavern like glass blows that've been dropped onto the floor, and the pieces don't linger once they've shattered and evaporate quickly, vacating the area.

Slowly glancing over at the boy, who's dressed in a white shirt with long blue sleeves and jeans and has light brown hair (or is that dark orange?), I take one look at his eyes, because nothing else is immediately spectacular about him.

He's not dead. But he might as well be.

So this is what they mean when they say, "staring into a mirror". Not that I didn't know it before.

"Agh...ugh..."

I calmly glance back at the girl in the black armor, who, surprisingly, is still alive.

"...you...have grown strong, Shirou..."

It's a familiar voice, speaking an unfamiliar language. If we were speaking individually, neither would be unfamiliar.

"...no...that is wrong...you were strong...from the start."

She doesn't know yet. But if she's survived that, I suspect she will soon.

"Please...end this battle. My...my body will...regenerate...if you do not...hurry."

Still no reply, so she makes a concentrated and painful effort to sit up so that she can at least see what has befallen the boy next to her.

"...Shirou...?"

Keenly observing her, I watch the exact moment the realization strikes her, and it's the moment she sets her eyes on the boy's.

She closes her own eyes in reaction.

"...then...I have won, Shirou."

Then, her empty golden eyes flash at me, and just for a moment, our eyes meet.

This time, it lasts for more than just a few moments.

I'm the first to break it. I close my eyes. I've seen enough.

Thoughts, inferences, rationalizations...they're already clouding my mind. But I obliterate them all. They're not needed here.

* * *

I open my eyes. It's already light out, which means in no more than an hour and a half's time, we'll be out there to conclude this Singularity. Hopefully.

Sitting up carefully, I perform some stretches to get my body out of its sleepy slump. The magic fire I've cast has burnt itself out safely, and the Artoria's, having retired to their own tents somewhere, have obviously vacated my tent, perhaps out of respect, perhaps out of politeness.

I still feel a bit sluggish, and I know it's not sluggishness brought forth by physical exhaustion, since sleep should have taken care of that, but instead by mana depletion. The army rations I ate were honestly akin to eating out a cat's ass, but I didn't complain since it's not like I could expect any better, let's be realistic here.

So sitting cross-legged again, I resume the form that I was using to meditate earlier in the morning today to resume my innate mana regeneration. Every bit helps, if it doesn't seem like it at first glance.

Some time passes, and I hear the front flap of my canvas tent get lifted up again. Again, I ignore it initially. Deja vu.

"Master."

Saber Alter. With that tone of voice, that quiet conviction...even if to normal ears that tone of voice would seem like her normal one, with what I've seen, I sense that she's not here to make idle talk.

So I open my eyes again, but I don't look up at her directly.

"I hear ya," I speak quietly, though I'm afraid she doesn't hear me because it's getting quite loud out there, with the French Army preparing to go to battle, after all. "How can I help ya?"

"Just who are you?"

I don't respond to that, because frankly, I'm a little taken back by that question. But I don't let my surprise show.

"Clarify that for me?" I ask, finally looking up at her, still sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Servants are not supposed to be able to have dreams," Salter says. Her voice sounds very subtly tense, though you'd be hard-pressed to hear it - either that, or I'm imagining things. "Is this the work of your magic? That which you call 'fake' magecraft?"

"I wasn't aware that my magecraft could cause my Servants to have dreams, but then again, I don't think normal magecraft can, either," I reply coolly. "Is there a problem you have with that?"

I then find myself staring at Saber Alter along the top of Excalibur Morgan, whose tip is mere centimeters away from the tip of my nose. The distance between me and Salter is so short that Salter has to hold her sword up in the air in a reverse grip so that she can threaten me without actually hurting me right away.

I think I forget that this gesture is meant to be threatening, I can't be sure.

"That world," Salter whispers, her gold eyes starting to brim with aura very slightly, just like all the hints and clues about her behavior so far. "What is it?"

"I could ask the same of you," I return swiftly. "Who was Shirou?"

Her fist tightens around the handle of her dark sword.

"Touched a nerve, hm?" I note to myself aloud as I close my eyes again. "Then I won't ask further."

Suddenly, the front flap of the tent gets thrown up, and in walks -

"Alter, put that sword away at once. Do not dare threaten our Master in my presence if it is not a pre-arranged spar."

I glance past Artoria's dress, as she's already suited for battle, and I can see a nervous Lily's armored legs standing outside too.

Salter turns to Artoria.

"You and Lily both had the dream," Salter quietly hisses at her vanilla self, though she does, surprisingly, obediently dissipate her corrupted sword. "Do you not sense that something is... _off?"_

"That is not our place to say, and this is not the time for it either," Artoria hisses back. "We are about to fight a battle that will conclude this Singularity, yet you decide that threatening our Master in this crucial time is the proper course of action?"

"I care not for this Singularity. But this...this has piqued my interest quite a bit," Salter retorts before turning to me. "I will have my answer, Master. I will oblige with this task for now, but choose to deny me of what I seek at your own peril."

And with that, she shoves past Artoria and exits the tent.

Artoria slowly turns to me, but she, too, for all her scolding words directed at her darker self, has a very uneasy expression on her face.

"You're worried by it too, I assume?" I ask her, even though I really don't need to, and she nods slowly.

"Master, Servants...are not supposed to have dreams," she murmurs, almost mournfully. "We are, after all, physical manifestations of Heroic Spirits, and thus not human, so...certain things like dreams are impossible to have. And yet - "

"You, Salter, and Lily all had them, huh..."

"Yes."

I slowly glance up at her too, still electing to continue sitting on the floor.

"I saw visions of you three," I reveal to her. "You, Lily, and Salter. I can guess as to what yours and Lily's were, what I saw in them. But Salter's is the one that I don't understand. Speaking with total ignorance here, I have to wonder if that's the reason why Salter came over to me and demanded that I tell her what's going on."

Artoria says nothing.

"Artoria," I say calmly, slowly getting back up to my feet and standing up straight, and Saber returns my gaze at my call of her name. "Salter wanted to know who I was. Are you also inclined to ask me the same thing?"

Continuing to remain silent for a bit, Saber drops her gaze again, still looking mightily unsure of herself.

"...the fact that we, as your Servants, were able to see a dream is...unprecedented, to say the least. Of course, I...cannot say with certainty that it has _never_ happened, though it should be impossible, but in my experience, such a thing has never happened."

Artoria raises her chin a little, but she still doesn't reengage eye contact with me.

"But when I found myself in that sandstorm, I felt that something was...terribly off about that place. And I have been able to conclude only that this dream is the result of our contract, our pact that ties us together as Master and Servant. I do not know what else could have caused it..."

I clear my throat quietly.

"That vision of the sandstorm...it's a holdover from my younger days, you could say," I sigh a little bit. "I didn't expect it to actually bleed over to you as my Servant, but I guess it's happened."

"Holdover? As in...?" Artoria asks, but then she restrains herself. "I-I apologize, I should not pry into the memories of my Master. Please spare me of them if you do not feel comfortable sharing them."

"Yeah, maybe now's not a great time for that."

"I'm sorry, Master."

"It's fine, we didn't really expect something like this to happen. Now let's get to work."

"Yes, of course."

So I start heading past her to exit, but then she stops me, saying,

"Master, before you leave."

I glance down at her. Remember, she is...rather short. As are the other Artoria's with her.

"Did you perhaps...have a dream about us?" Artoria mumbles, dropping her gaze so low that I can't see her eyes since her blonde hair blocks them. Particularly, that piece of hair popularly known as an _ahoge_ in Japanese bobs a little as she drops her gaze down.

"Yeah, I did," I mention, looking away. "I'd heard that in normal Holy Grail Wars, Masters sometimes get dreams or visions about the Servants whom they summon. I guess that stays true, even here."

"It seems so, but..." Artoria looks back up at me, and noticing this, I also glance back to make eye contact. "I mean not to take part in hypocrisy, but besides Alter's notion that us Servants having dreams is absurd, I had a vision that...atop that hill, when I looked down, I...saw you, standing at the bottom, looking back up at me."

"Huh, that's interesting," I wonder aloud, turning to her too. "I did have that vision, seeing you on that hill, and I did notice you look down at me."

Artoria bows her head again, as if in shame. I turn back to the entrance flap of the canvas tent.

"I have an idea about what happened on that hill. My knowledge of Arthurian legend is rusty, but I think you don't need to tell me what happened there," I say slowly, making sure to articulate every word that rolls off my tongue. "But since by this point it's been made clear to me that the legends of Servants may differ from the legends or history of this world, I may not know everything. If speaking of it makes you uncomfortable or upset, I would rather that you keep it to yourself, but only if that's what you truly prefer. Otherwise, if it'll help you feel better by elaborating it to me, I'd like to ask that you come talk to me about it once this is all over and we head back home."

I pause, knowing that there's one last thing I want to add before we go.

"And...even though I couldn't really have any control over this, I'm sorry for seeing something like that," I murmur. "I understand that Heroic Spirits may have regrets or troubles that they had in life that they carry with them even in Spirit form. If that's one of them, I want you to know that I'm not making any judgments on what I saw."

Artoria nods. "Thank you for your kind words, Master. But..."

"Yeah?"

"If you had to make a judgment on what you saw, what would it be?"

"Curious?"

Artoria painfully smiles, nodding a little.

I don't share that painful smile. I don't like smiling painfully, though I do confess to doing it sometimes.

"I saw a girl...who looked like she realized that she'd made a terrible mistake that she can't fix," I sigh, offering my best response. "That's what I saw, I suppose, if you insist that I make a judgment."

And with that, I duck underneath the entrance flap. If we don't get a move on now, we'll be stuck there talking until the army heads out, and I've been asked to join the Marshal first thing when the army prepares to move out.

Lily is still faithfully waiting for me and Artoria to emerge from the tent, and when I finally do first, she greets me happily - but I note that the expression on her face isn't one of energetic optimism, but one of happy relief. Relief implies that she was worried about something, no?

"Master, good morning!" she says to me wonderfully with that _genki_ aura of hers, already in full armor in preparation for today's final battle. Though, I do sense that she's being a little extra _genki_ right now to cover up the fact that she's been feeling worried so far this morning.

"Morning, Lily. Something on your mind?" I ask her as Artoria also emerge from the tent behind me. Maybe she was hanging back there a little bit further to think a little bit about what I said.

Lily's energetic smile gets stripped away by my words, and I feel a stab of guilt pierce my chest when I see this unfold, though I don't show it.

"Lady Alter...she didn't give you a hard time just then, did she...?" she asks uncomfortably.

"Well...she did point her sword at me, but it's fine, she didn't do anything further."

"Oh, oh no..." Lily moans a little, also bowing her head just like her older self. "I'm so sorry, I even...I even asked Lady Alter to calm down, but...she refused to listen..."

"So those visions we had together really are a big deal, huh."

Lily freezes at the mention of the dreams we had, but she thaws out quickly and nods again, more reservedly this time.

"For...for someone like me, seeing you there was...it was only a surprise, and nothing more," Lily explains, speaking slowly because she's choosing her words carefully to put her thoughts into coherent speech. "But...for Lady Artoria, and Lady Alter, those dreams...those visions, they were...they were much more important."

"You pulled Caliburn out of the stone, how is that not important too?" I ask, but I immediately wish I didn't say that, because that would imply that I have a keen interest in learning what the other dreams of Artoria and Salter entailed.

"B-Because!" Lily tries to come to her older selves' defense. "Because...I'm...I'm very naive, weak, and...and inexperienced. And even when I know this about myself, I know that more than likely, I am these things to a deeper extent that I myself am aware of. So knowing this, I think that the dreams you saw from the others...are just more significant than mine."

I gaze at her sideways for a long moment, making her shrink a little underneath my hard gaze.

"Maybe to you, the dream we shared isn't so significant," I tell Lily calmly, turning to her too much in the same fashion that I turned to Artoria when we were talking together just a minute ago inside the tent. "But you're forgetting that both Artoria and Salter, who're both you when you're older, know that scene too. Actually - " I turn to Artoria again with another question that pops into my head upon saying this. "Artoria, did you see the other visions I had with the others? With Lily and Salter?"

Artoria shakes her head. "No, Master, I only saw you in my own."

"Huh." I rub my chin, intrigued by this too.

"I'm - I know that the dream we had together is important to them, of course, I didn't mean that isn't the case," Lily says quickly. "It's just - I mean to say that they're much more affected by the fact that you saw what happened to them in their lives. I don't mind at all that you saw me pull Caliburn out of the stone, but the reason why I don't mind it so much as Lady Artoria or Lady Alter do is because of the fact that I'm inexperienced and I don't have the same knowledge and experience as they do."

I digest her words for a moment, and then it hits me.

"You're a really kind person, aren't you, Lily," I remark to her, which makes her beet red in the cheeks.

"Fueh?" she replies with a funny little noise, becoming all flustered and squirming a little. "K-Kind? Me? Uh, um - "

"If you're worried about how Salter and Artoria're gonna react to what we've seen last night, then just know that I'll talk to them once we're done with everything here," I assure Lily. "But for now, let's take care of this fir - "

"Maaaaassssteee **eeeRRRRR _RRRRR! ! ! !"_**

I turn to my right to receive a faceful of bosom, courtesy of a certain flying foxy Caster.

Slamming my head down against the dirt, Tamamo immediately sits up on my stomach, looking quite irritated indeed.

"I was wondering where you were, and I find you here flirting with Miss Saber-san!" Tamamo scolds me as Kiyohime peeps into view, looking over me next to Tamamo as Lily hurries over to me as well, frantic about Tamamo basically body-slamming me against the ground. "When we're about to fight the last battle of this Singularity! Probably."

Rubbing my nose, I offer nothing but a smile back up at Tamamo.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, my bad. Let's get goin', shall we?"


	49. Ruler

**A/N:**

 **Apologies for the extended delay, but Da Vinci, Hunting Quests, and now Fate Accel Zero weren't gonna farm themselves.**

 **tl34lt12: thanks for your review, but I don't think the comparison to Fragments of Chaldea was necessary. Not because I think you're wrong, I'm sure Fragments of Chaldea is the superior fanfic and always will be, but because I disagree with your belief that you need to belittle another fanfic in order to empower another. Or, in other words, Fragments of Chaldea doesn't need people like you to go around and call other FGO fanfics worse to be good. You're doing that fic a disservice, if I'll be honest.  
**

 **But on the bright side, I'll try to improve. You've set the bar pretty high for me, though.**

 **Anonymous: I've dealt with people like you telling me that my stories are just OC powertrips for longer than you've been reading fanfics, and I suppose I'll have you know that I much prefer writing stories with strong OC's to writing stories with potato sacks with no personality and/or power for OC's; the latter is far too boring for me, as in it's boring to write when the OC/MC can't do anything. But I'll just take a guess and say that you think the exact opposite. Or maybe it's simply because people aren't used to seeing OC's who act in at least somewhat reasonable ways and do their best to adapt to the situations that they're in, and so when they see someone like that, they immediately scream foul and call him/her a Gary Stu/Mary Sue - in which case I don't blame you.**

 **Oh, and I'd like to point out that you wrote your review after reading the warnings I had on the first chapter, which means in essence, your review was entirely meaningless, at least to me. So I apologize for the time that you've wasted both reading my fic and writing that review, even though I have no reason to. Hopefully you won't have to go through this experience again when reading others'.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

"Master, if I may..."

I glance to my side to Jeanne, who I've noticed has been walking close to me this entire morning as we've been marching north to meet the dragon army and Berserk Servants of Jeanne Alter. We've confirmed that Jalter's been consolidating her forces around Orleans and is more or less waiting for us to come attack her, which we'd need to anyway before Jalter gets the idea to attack us instead. It's not like either army has any sort of defender's advantage, because technically both sides of defender's advantage. But that's irrelevant.

"Yeah, what's up," I reply quickly. Tamamo, naturally walking alongside me, also leans over, giving Jeanne a suspicious look, like a cat eyes a bird flying around in the backyard.

"If in the event that the other me is...if in the event that Jalter gives us a chance to talk, may you permit me some time to speak with her?" Jeanne asks rather meekly, not making eye contact as she delivers this request.

I narrow my eyes at her a little.

"...sure, I don't mind, but I think everyone already has an idea about how I feel about people talking in the middle of a fight, or what's soon to be a fight," I shrug a little. "But if it's that important to you, then sure. Just try not to make it drag on."

Jeanne nods, smiling quickly with relief. "Thank you, Master. And yes, I, uh, I won't let it drag on for too long."

"More to the point, Master, why are you even marching here up in the front lines with us? Now _this_ is something that's _far_ too dangerous!" Tamamo protests, but she immediately follows that up with, "...is what I'd like to say, but..."

"Yeah, I kinda thought I'd already explained that I'd be fine with everyone up here with me," I frown to my side at Caster.

Tamamo wearily looks around us. All of the Servants we've managed to recruit to our cause are marching in single-file line towards the enemy army, acting as the vanguard of the French Army that's following behind us. The general battle strategy that we're following dictates that my Servants and I will handle the brunt of the fighting, as the Servants, being Heroic Spirits, can obviously fight with the effort of hundreds of men each, and I'll be here to support any of my Servants if they require assistance, while the French soldiers behind us will provide ranged support via arrow and artillery volleys. As a matter of fact, one of our objectives is to make sure that the enemy dragon army doesn't get past us to go attack the French Army, because even though the army can defend itself, the more troops who survive the fight, the better, since it means there'll be more men to secure Orleans and thus the rest of the country. And the easiest way to ensure that we have as many French soldiers survive this fight is to simply have them not fight if at all possible.

"Master, are you thinking about something?" Matthew asks, and her voice pulls me out of my momentary thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I looked like I was thinking about something?" I ask back.

Matthew nods. "It's, uh...a bit easy to see when you're thinking about something. I don't, uh, mean that in a bad way, though..." she murmurs, her cross-shield thumping softly against the dirt every so often as we march.

"Hey, Matthew-chan, that's _my_ job, mmmkay?" Tamamo mumbles over at her, clearly not amused at Matthew's inherent ability to sense my moments of inner contemplation.

"W-Well, no, it's just, I don't think that's a _bad_ thing," Matthew says quickly, raising her free hand up to defend herself. "Master has always been honest and transparent with us so far...I just felt like it was, um, just, you know, fitting..."

"That aside, I was just thinking about whether or not we'll do a good enough job holding the entire dragon army back," I wonder aloud. "Even though we _do_ have, what, how many is this, fourteen Servants, we _can_ be stretched thin if we're not careful." I glance around, reviewing the linear formation that my Servants and I form.

 _"Hey, you know, August, you don't need to worry about those soldiers,"_ Roman calls over, automatically turning on Matthew's hologram projector so that we have no choice but to deal with him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, eyeing him with a bit of annoyance.

 _"As in, when you resolve this Singularity, everything that's happened here shouldn't change the outcome of the future. The only thing you're doing by resolving this Singularity is making sure that the Singularity itself won't develop into a threat that could potentially change the future. It shouldn't matter if you save all of those French soldiers or not."_

I squint back at Roman's hologram.

 _"I-I'm just saying, alright? I didn't mean anything bad by it - "_ Roman reflexively says, as if I've just given him the stinkeye, but I cut him off.

"You sure about that, Doc?" I ask.

 _"Well, yeah, that's what Da Vinci and I both concluded. So long as you resolve this Singularity and it collapses in on itself without incident like the previous one, the current frame of time shouldn't be changed since the Singularity didn't become strong enough to be able to begin influencing human history as we know it."_

I scratch my chin a little.

"So, Roman, riddle me this," I glance back at him through the blue hologram projection. "You're telling me...that hypothetically speaking, if I were to be a dumbass and meet with Jalter right now and tell her, hey, I've changed my mind; let me help you destroy France, and if she accepts, I order everyone to go shit on the French Army and then wreck what's left of France and completely delete the country off the face of the Earth, you're telling me that France still would exist when we get back? When we resolve this Singularity or whatever?"

 _"H-Huh? Well, uh..."_ Roman hesitates. _"Y-Yeah, it...it should, but you shouldn't do that in the first place!"_

"I won't, I did say 'hypothetically speaking', mind you. But I just find it hard to believe that the conditions for preserving current human history only call for us to resolve the Singularity and that's it."

 _"That's because these Singularities aren't part of our history as we know it, August. Think of them as holes that've opened up in our timeline, but they're separate from that timeline unless they get to the point where their power and influence begin connecting them back into that timeline. So long as they're resolved before they get to that point, everything should be fine no matter what you do."_

"I know. The problem that I see is that that's what you determined before I got involved, back when Matthew was with her previous Master - when Singularities were these things you had to Rayshift to. Am I wrong?"

 _"Er...well...you're...you're not..."_

"Okay. And now we're in a different situation, where these Singularities that we're currently dealing with don't require us to Rayshift to them. Wouldn't that imply that these Singularities now _do_ have something to do with our current timeline? That they're not just these holes in our timeline of human history?"

 _"Nope, August, they're still fundamentally the same,"_ Da Vinci's voice chimes through as the Italian Renaissance woman herself pops into the hologram. _"They're still essentially the same thing that Matthew dealt with in the beginning, there shouldn't be any major difference, at least not what you all have to deal with directly."_

"I find that hard to believe, even if I'm not the expert on this," I object. "I feel like there's gotta be some kind of major difference here."

 _"Why, to justify what you're trying to do to protect the French Army?"_ Da Vinci coos at me, leaning towards the projection camera a little. _"You're certainly a nicer person than the reports that Signora Animusphere gave us about you."_

"While I don't necessarily need external justification, it _would_ be nice to verify that keeping as much of the French army alive will in fact directly influence how well we resolve this Singularity," I reply. "It'll also serve as future reference."

"Wow, Master's so noble ~ ! Don't worry, Master, if you ever do need justification, I'll be all the justification you'll ever need ~ " Tamamo sings, hugging my arm all the while.

 _"Hm, but what I_ can _tell you now is that your hunch about this set of Singularities is right, or at least on the right track,"_ Da Vinci notes. _"These Singularities_ are _in fact unique from the one that Matthew dealt with before, with her Master before you. As in, while that other Singularity that Matthew dealt with in the past was like a hole separate from our current timeline, these Singularities do in fact seem connected to this timeline."_

I roll my eyes. "So they _are_ connected, after all."

 _"Yes, but...it's hard to explain how, and right now it's quite difficult to pinpoint the exact reason."_

I narrow my eyes again. Da Vinci, of all people, can't pinpoint a reason like that? And now why would that be?

"Can you go into further detail as to why you don't know?" I ask, knowing that I'm pressing my luck when I'm asking something like this to someone like Da Vinci.

 _"At the moment, I can't. As a matter of fact, I was going to ask you to bring that Grail that you'll recover in your current Singularity to headquarters so that I can study it to further analyze the origin records of this Singularity, to see if I can't find out exactly how. All we know for now is that these present-day Singularities are holes that're opening up directly on our current frame of the human history timeline, but that's the only difference."_

"So - "

 _"Signore, you really ought to believe me, that truly is the only difference,"_ Da Vinci cuts _me_ off this time, which means she isn't in the mood to negotiate or discuss anything at the moment. _"I understand your sentiment that there perhaps is more of a connection that these Singularities have with the timeline than we are currently aware of, and that is the reason why I wish to study that Singularity's Grail. Well, one of them, anyway. I too want to ascertain that there isn't any specific way of going about resolving these Singularities that will not have any lasting impact on our timeline when you resolve them."  
_

I nod, knowing it's time to shut up. "Fine, we'll get you that Grail asap. Though, I wonder why you didn't just ask us to bring you the first Grail we got from that first Singularity."

 _"Ah, that's because by the time I realized that I should probably study the Grail firsthand, you all had already left for France,"_ Da Vinci gives me a big and innocent smile. _"Anyways, good luck with your mission! Take good care of him, okay, Matthew?"_

"Ah, y-yes, Lady Da Vinci!" Matthew calls back just before the hologram dismantles itself and zips out of sight.

Just in time, too, because Jalter's army is now well within sight.

"There, Master!" Jeanne calls out hurriedly, and sure enough, Jalter seems to have the same idea that we had, marching out in front of her own army for the same reason that we are.

"I see him," I nod quickly. "Jeanne, tell the Marshal to stop the army where they are now."

"Right away." Jeanne opens her comms rune and relays my order to the Marshal in French, and looking behind us, I wait for the French army to stop, and after a few moments, they slow to a halt in the soon-to-be battlefield.

"Everyone, stop here," I order the Servants. "Matthew, Artoria, back Jeanne up - I don't exactly trust Jalter to be able to have a civil conversation with our Jeanne."

"Understood, Master," Artoria replies crisply as she hurries over to join Jeanne, but the latter turns to me urgently.

"Master, I..." Jeanne begins, but she hesitates again. "If you may, um, I would like to speak with Jalter alone..."

"Ordinarily I wouldn't have a problem with that, but look."

I point over in Jalter's direction, and my Servants and I can clearly see that Jalter is continuing to advance towards us with the remainder of her Berserk Servants. By the looks of it, she hasn't managed to summon any more, for all of them are familiar faces, at least so far. That means that the possibility of Jalter having summoned more Berserk Servants to her side can be safely ruled out, since she'd want all the resources she's got at her disposal here with her now.

Well, actually, scratch that - there's one Servant whom I don't think we've met. Given the fact that she's holding a bow, I'll safely assume that she's the Berserk Archer.

"Jalter's not gonna let you return back to us without a fight," I continue on to Jeanne, "nor do I expect her to even think about that in the first place. And if I'll be honest with you, I'd like to have everyone go with you just to make sure that you have as much backup as we can afford."

"But everyone else..." Jeanne looks around at the other Servants. "You said that you wanted them to help protect the army from the dragons, in case they decide to attack the army first?"

"The army will be able to defend itself, dear Saint," Mozart speaks smoothly, with a few of his musical angels already fluttering around him. "With Master supplying them with the artillery ammunition over the course of the night, the dragons will be held at bay for some time at the very least, and the soldiers themselves already have some experience fighting dragons now."

"That's right. We know that this may be an important moment for you, but to have to die over it is a little..." Marie looks uncertain and conflicted, gazing at Jeanne. "How should I say this, it seems too soon. And before this battle even begins, too."

"Then how about this: Salter, Lily, go with Jeanne too," I put forth a compromise. "Five on five, make it even. The rest of us, stand by to provide cover for these five as they move up; I'll keep an eye on the dragons. Sound good?"

Everyone nods, so I motion for Jeanne and her escort to get a move on, and they do, hurrying forward to rendezvous with Jalter and her own Berserk Servants - given the fact that Jalter hasn't shown any signs of aggression yet, it seems like she's also in the mood to talk.

"Grrrr..." Elizabeth growls, clutching her wicked lance with both hands so hard that I grow a bit concerned that she's going to snap her own weapon in half. "Piggy, you'll let me go after that sow, right? Right?"

Liz's Hungarian accent still throws me for a loop. "Yeah, sure," I nod back.

"Master, is it not unwise to allow such an immature lizard such as Elizabeth to run about doing whatever she wants? We are Servants, not children," Kiyohime coos in with a low hiss, just like a brooding snake.

"Then maybe I'll start with _you_ first, you damn rat squirrel," Elizabeth snaps over to Kiyohime, with a deathly sharp look in her eyes. The killing intent she emits with her eyes alone slap the side of my face like a ton of bricks.

"Let's not," I interrupt quickly. "But I'll let you go after...uh, who was it again?"

"That one, over there. The one with the silly coffin thing," Liz points out the enemy Servant to me.

"So that's the one you ran into first before running into Kiyohime, huh?"

"Yeah. I've got more than just a score to settle with her..."

"Sounds important. Sure, go after her first, then."

"Are you sure about this, Master...?" Kiyohime asks again, but this time she asks with noticeably more concern.

"We have the numbers advantage if we're going off nothing but strength of Servants," I reason. "Even if it's dangerous for me to assume that all Servants are equal in power for me to make an assumption like that, it's still, what, fourteen Servants to only five, assuming we count Jalter as one, too."

"Ah, yes, that's a rather dangerous assumption, Master, given that I am a part of this force," Mozart notes with a professional smile. "Ah, but I suppose if you'll allow Miss Elizabeth her own little duel with that one, then may I also beg your permission for Marie and I to face Sanson? The one who attacked us earlier yesterday upon leaving the city of Lyon."

"Sure."

Marie, looking a little taken back by Mozart's bold request, looks a little flustered. "A-Are you sure about this, Mozart?" she asks, fumbling over her words a little. "And you are alright with this too, Master?"

"I've already allowed Jeanne to go and have a little chat with Jalter," I point out, nodding in the direction of the two Jeanne's ahead of us. "It wouldn't be fair for me to deny anyone else of any special privileges, otherwise I'll be accused of favoritism. Not that that's ever stopped anybody..."

"Nnnn...I think I agree with Kiyo-chan here, you're being far too lax with your own Servants, Master," Tamamo mumbles to me after hearing me give my consent to Mozart for his and Marie's focus on Sanson.

"And let's be honest, the only one who'll accuse you of that's going to be _this_ promiscuous little fox right here," Elizabeth sneers a little.

"What was that, Liz-chan? And I was _juuuust_ thinking about making a lizard steak dinner for Master later tonight, too ~ " Tamamo pivots on her ankles to face Elizabeth with a few explosive talismans so fast that I feel like she's manually cut out a handful of frames from her own movement animations. In turn, I plop my left hand on top of Tamamo's head in between her jackal ears firmly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, mmmkay," I ask her politely, and Tamamo's ears bend forward in reluctance.

"That's not true, Elizabeth. Did you not ask Master to be your 'manager' or something? Does that not also imply that you wish for Master to show you some degree of favoritism as well?" Kiyohime points out.

"N-No, it doesn't, okay!?" Liz yowls back. "You're just reading too much into it! And besides, I don't wanna hear that coming from someone like _you!"_

"Someone like me? Oh, as in someone who dutifully obeys her Master and serves him with every fiber in her body? Then if not someone like me, then wh - "

I raise my finger at Kiyohime to silence her, for the dragons are beginning to produce all manners of shrieks and screeches, and Fafnir, the huge black dragon in the distance begins to roar.

"Looks like it's ti - " I begin, but an explosion of flames finishes that thought for me, blooming in the area where Jeanne and the others should be.

"Ah, they started! I'll be going now, Piggy!" Elizabeth cries out in alarm, and without even waiting for a response, she just dashes forward and sits on the side of her lance as it flings itself forward and propels its rider straight into the action. Makes me wonder if she can be dual-summoned as a Rider, too.

"Get goin', Mozart, we'll cover you!" I urge the famous musician and the French queen, the latter of whom immediately produces a glass horse for the two of them to ride.

"Take care of the dragons for us, Master! There is no need to worry about us!" Mozart calls at us as Marie's glass horse gallops away furiously towards the two Jeanne's as our Servants emerge from the flames mostly unscathed, minus the burn marks and scorch marks from the flames, of course.

"Master, the enemy army is inbound!" St. George alerts us, gripping his sword Ascalon tightly as a large white horse in black armor flashes into view before him. "Mr. Siegfried, are you ready?"

"Yes, let's get to Fafnir!" Siegfried replies. "Lead the way, I shall follow!"

Following orders I've given them before we headed out, my Servants disperse to cover as much ground of the battlefield as possible to compel as many of the dragons now flying towards us and the French Army to instead focus on them first. The barrage of cannonfire begins to sound off, though only a smattering of it to ward against the dragons who have flown past the Servants before they could get to them.

Tossing my hand up into the air, I produce a large array of magic attack runes that cover the air behind me like freckles, and clutching my fist, all of the runes begin to fire off bolts of mana to attack the incoming dragons that are headed towards me and Tamamo. I have to sacrifice power and lethality in my shots for sheer numbers and coverage, so the mana lasers probably won't do much to any dragons they hit - at most, they'll feel like someone's slapping them a little bit when they do get hit. Due to the sheer number of mana lasers I'm throwing at them, though, getting slapped around will at least delay them somewhat - after all, the Servants here need to be the ones doing most of the killing, not me.

Case in point, Tamamo. Having thrown handfuls of talismans into the distance, she produces dark rainclouds in the air immediately over the incoming dragons and causes them to rain bolts of lightning down on them, and numerous pillars of explosions and flame burst up from the ground when the land mine talismans that she's thrown onto the ground far ahead of us get triggered by the dragons flying past them.

Even though I'm making sure to be as efficient as possible in my mana usage, all of these attack runes firing out mana lasers at the dragons around us is definitely forcing me to expend more mana that I'm comfortable with - I'll blame that on having fourteen separate Servants on my roster right now. It's just more efficient if I take on these dragons head-on, rather than shooting out all these mana lasers that'll only bruise these dragons at worst - most of them look like they just don't give a shit about my attacks at all, even. So I shut down my runes just in time before the first pack of dragons who break through Tamamo's unrelenting defense, flying at high speed towards us, can engage us, and I snap my fingers in their direction to produce an explosion right underneath them, quickly aiming in their general direction to deter them.

"I got this, Master!" Tamamo yells, tossing more talismans like a kunoichi throwing kunai knives, and she throws one per dragon deftly, the talismans getting air-burst near their targets even if they miss and taking them down for good to finish what I started.

Taking advantage of Tamamo's clearly superior magical offense, I take a knee and pull out the MK-17 marksman rifle and quickly get to work simply shooting down dragons instead - it's clearly my most efficient way of killing dragons, so with someone like Tamamo to cover me, there's simply no reason not to rely on it from this point forward. In between magazines of mana bullets, I quickly glance around to make sure that none of my Servants are in any particular trouble before getting back to shooting down more dragons again. We have several close calls with Tamamo just barely taking out some incoming dragons with her talismans that she apparently has an infinite supply of (where is she pulling them out of again?) and causing them to crash all around us like big chunks of falling debris - one of them even grinds to a halt right in front of me, smoldering in a heap from the explosion that's killed it, so both Tamamo and I hop onto it to use it as a sort of pedestal and continue to hold our ground while cannonfire intermittently goes off behind us.

But a wild, desperate sort of scream that's loud enough to shake the earth a little catches my attention, as does the extreme outburst of mana that I sense that follows it, and I direct my attention back over to where Jeanne and the others should be squaring off against Jalter and her Berserk Servants. Dark purple and magenta mana lines are surrounding one of the Berserk Servants, the Archer one whom we haven't met yet prior to this battle, and Jeanne, who's facing her directly, is taking several steps backwards away from her. Even though she's got her back to me, it's obvious that Jeanne is in no mood to have to fight that particular Servant. And more importantly, all the other Servants are too busy fighting off their own respective enemies, too, with the exception of Saber Lily, who charges in from the side to try to distract the Berserk Archer who's clearly gone more than just Berserk.

...magenta, huh...

The sight of that Berserk Archer girl punching Saber Lily straight in the face as the latter tries to swing Caliburn at her is enough to convince me that I need to help out - or try to, at least.

"Tamamo, cover me!" I bark back at Tamamo at my side, slipping my rifle back into its magical storage.

"Wait, Master, where you goi - ?!"

I don't have the luxury to sit there and let Tamamo finish her thought - I burst off the ground to quickly reach Lily, who's drawn aggro from the Berserk Archer. It's a good thing that I've decided to act swiftly, because Jeanne tries to also run at the Berserk Archer, now that Lily's tried to defend her, but she clearly can't reach Archer in time to stop her from seriously maiming Lily or worse, as the punch that Lily's taken straight to the face has both stunned and disarmed her as she lays on the upturned dirt and grass in a daze while Archer herself starts to pounce on her and claw her apart.

With all the power focused into my feet, I flash-step one more time, without caring to brake myself on the other side - and the result is a dead-on collision with Berserk Archer, specifically me ramming my left shoulder directly into Berserk Archer's right temple.

Both of us painfully crash into the ground and start rolling into each other, and because I've struck her temple, Berserk Archer is stunned for a few moments while I manage to roll back up to my feet and slide to a stop, though the rough impact was enough to tear through my jacket and shirt and rip the skin underneath, judging by the sharp pains searing across my shoulderblades.

Well before I've even stopped skidding across the ground on my feet, I myself pounce onto Berserk Archer to finish her off before she can snap out of her daze, but a nearby dragon swoops down at me, though I feel like its primary objective isn't to specifically save Berserk Archer. So I disengage quickly, kicking off the body of Berserk Archer before I get speared by the dragon's talons, but the dragon ends up nicking Berserk Archer instead, and I suppose the pain is enough to snap her out of her daze, and she rolls back up to her feet too and blasts off the ground, screaming bloody murder at me.

"Don't - _don't - get - in my way! ! !"_ Berserk Archer screams at me. Speaking of which, where's her bow? _"I'LL CHEW YOU UP INTO PIECES! GET - OUT - OF - MY - "_

I don't wait for her to finish - after putting a mana bullet into the dragon that's tried attacking me with my Desert Eagle, I redirect fire and shoot at Berserk Archer instead.

With the swiftest of reactions, the moment I start pointing my gun arm at Berserk Archer, she _instantly_ whips out a sleek metallic light black bow and fires a tremendous burst of blackish purple mana that simply evaporates my comparatively puny mana bullet that I fire at her - and she fires it with such force that it catches me off guard and leaves me no room to dodge. The mana arrow slams into my chest and simultaneously explodes, punting me backwards with immense force, enough to cause me to crash into Jeanne, who I sense has hopped deliberately in the way to stop me in my tracks.

"Master!" Jeanne shouts in my ear, her eyes widening at the wound inflicted on my chest as I hold my hand over it, though I don't press it. My shirt's been torn open, as has the skin underneath, and blood's splattered in all directions as I cough violently while trying to catch my breath.

"Watch it!" I yell hoarsely, and I grab Jeanne back and flash-step with her out of the way just in time before another fiery explosion rocks the ground that we've just been standing on, courtesy of Jalter. Wonder where she's been to suddenly step out and announce herself like this - wasn't she just talking with Jeanne like five or so minutes ago?

"Can't even keep up with one of my own Servants, huh?" Jalter laughs at us while clutching her own corrupted sword, and Berserk Archer creeps up behind her to join her at her side. "Pathetic, absolutely pathetic. You're supposed to be stronger than us, right? I mean, look, even your invincible Master can't stand up to Archer!"

While Jalter is spewing nonsense, I silently channel my mana into my chest, trying to mend what I can in this short period of time Jalter is giving us. Being able to exploit the arrogance and hubris of people like her is part of the reason why I like them so much. I just hope that Tamamo didn't see me get my ass kicked just now, otherwise she'll completely ditch her task of keeping the dragons at bay on her end. Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Lily shakily sitting up, using Caliburn as a prop to do so.

"Then in that case, I'll just let you play with Archer. It looks like she's got a few nice things to say to you anyhow - and who am I to interrupt?" Jalter laughs coldly. "If you'll excuse me, then - hahahahahaha! Archer, tear them apart!"

Berserk Archer starts screaming her head off again while Jalter leaps up and grabs a swooping dragon by its ankle (?) to catch a ride from it as it turns around swiftly and flaps strongly back in the direction of the capital city, towards the castle inside.

Reacting to Jalter running away, I pull out my fifty-caliber sniper rifle, snap its iron sights up since I don't have time to install my usual magical optics on it, and take a shot while Berserk Archer begins to scream,

 _ **"RULEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR! ! ! ! ! ! !"**_

"Atalanta, please, you have _got_ to believe me, if you are still angry at what I did to her, then - !" Jeanne tries to yell back while Jalter simply parries the fifty-caliber mana bullet that I throw at her with her standard, though it almost knocks it out of her hand in the process.

 _ **"SHUT UP - "**_ Atalanta roars. It's perhaps one of the most guttural, deepest roars of utter rage and despair that I've ever had the displeasure of hearing. _**"SHUT UP - SHUT UP, SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPP! ! ! !"**_

Blasting off the ground, Atlanta moves so fast that she practically flash-steps right in front of Jeanne, with both of her arms up and over her shoulders to strike down against Ruler. She's also kicked off so hard that she's left behind a misshapen crater in her wake, but no one's going to really notice that.

Dropping my rifle the moment I shoot it, I step to my right to stand in front of Jeanne and, without thinking, cast the strongest magical barrier rune I can create in a split second. My goal isn't to nullify Atalanta's attack, for that would be impossible just by creating a magical barrier that I've had no time to prepare beforehand. It's top delay her for just a moment as I push off the ground again as hard as I can to knock both myself and Jeanne out of the range of her mana-charged claws. They still nick me, though, and the tips of her claws both slice down through the visor of my cap and scratch my knees, though only barely.

Jeanne and I crash onto the ground behind us, and Atalanta doesn't let up, pouncing again onto me to tear my fucking guts out, but I clasp both hands together in finger guns and blast the air right in front of me with a massive mana burst that fires out of the tips of my index fingers like a shotgun blast, even though I actually do have a shotgun in my arsenal (it obviously isn't strong enough for this kind of a situation). However, compared to my mana bullet that I tried firing at her earlier, a wild, uncontrolled burst of mana is _much_ stronger simply off the fact that I'm not restricting the power of mana to an external mechanism like a gun barrel, and this catches Atalanta off guard, probably because, after destroying a mana projectile from me earlier, she didn't expect that I would be that strong. As a result, Atalanta gets launched away, flipping over and over backwards until she lands perfectly on her feet on the ground.

 _ **"DON'T GET IN MY WA - "**_

Instead of my enemy who chooses to waste precious time venting her anger out into the world, I get up off Jeanne and flash-step right back at her. However, because I know she's incredibly fast herself, I give her the benefit of the doubt that she's got the reactions to respond to my choreographed attack, and so I intentionally stop right in front of her and delay the explosive punch that I've got in store for her to see what she does, slamming my foot down into the ground to anchor myself to prepare for a follow-up flash step if need be.

Sure enough, this baits out a response from Archer, who instinctively kicks herself backwards - her facial expression and the force of her reaction suggest that she didn't expect me to be able to have instant movements myself, which is a little...surprising, given that that's how I was able to collide into her the first time we met. Maybe she just hasn't made that connection yet. Either way, because I've already prepared myself for a follow-up step, I catch her when she's still airborne and catch her by her face to slam her down face-first against the dirt. Slamming my left foot down against the back of her neck to pin her, I then charge my fist with as much mana as I can that won't end up blowing my fist clean off and punch her square in the back, right against her spine, with that punch, enveloping the two of us in a giant explosion that rocks the earth just as hard as Atlanta's scream from earlier - which says more about her scream than it does about my explosion, honestly.

"Lily, use Caliburn on her!" I demand while still trapped in the explosion smoke - I know that this isn't quite enough to put Archer out of the fight, but she's definitely feeling it now like Mr. Krabs is, and I have to hold her down by keeping her pinned against the ground with my hand around her neck and constantly punching her in the face to distract her - or trying to, at least. I've already tried to slit her throat using Touchknife, but with so much mana already expended and caught in a hectic situation where I can't properly focus on my efforts to hone Touchknife, it fails to work as an effective weapon against Atalanta.

"B-But you'll be in the way, Master!" Lily shrieks out, clutching her sword nervously behind me somewhere.

"JUST FUCKING DO IT!" I bellow, but yelling this out forces me to lose just a bit of the strength that I'm trying to use to keep Atalanta pinned, and she immediately takes advantage of this and reverses the situation, grappling me and tumbling over so that she's now on top and trying to claw my eyes out while I hold her hands by her wrists to prevent my eyes from getting mauled beyond comprehension.

Jeanne saves me by performing what's essentially a running dropkick on Archer, planting the bottoms of her metal boots against Atalanta's face and knocking her off me as Jeanne herself manages to stop her own momentum by stabbing the bottom of her standard into the ground at the same time that her feet make contact with Atalanta's face.

"LILY, _NOW!"_ I roar back at Lily, who, having seen Jeanne save me from Berserk Archer's grasp, is now much more willing to deploy her Noble Phantasm, and her sword was already brimming with golden aura anyway, just in case. As I sweep Jeanne off her feet and flash-step with her to get out of the way, Lily cries,

 **"CLEAVE THE WICKED -** _ **CALIBUUUUURRRRRRRN!"**_

Thrusting her sword with a slight angle, Lily fires off a bolt of mana that arcs perfectly onto Archer and crashes into her, and after a moment, it explodes into a field of golden mana bursts that pepper the field, and Atalanta disppears beneath it for a few moments as the Noble Phantasm destroys everything in its area of effect.

"Master, your wounds!" Jeanne cries out to me once Lily's deployed her Noble Phantasm, but I shake my head.

"Minor. We have to track down Jalter," I tell her.

"I-I agree, but - is she defeated?" Jeanne asks, pointing in the direction of Berserk Archer.

"We'll find out when we pass by. Lily, help the others out - Jeanne 'n I'll finish off Archer and find Jalter in the city!" I yell back at Lily, and Jeanne and I take off to check on the status of Archer. When we reach her, she's still struggling to get up, and when we approach her, she immediately pushes herself up to stand up to us, though she's covered in her own blood and soot marks from all the explosions that Lily's Caliburn has created to damage her.

 _ **"I'll kill you...!"**_ she keeps spouting. **_"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll ki - "_**

She charges at us while she's talking. I take a step forward to retaliate, but Jeanne, this time, is faster - and she hurls her battle standard straight at Atalanta like a javelin.

The splash of blood is pristine as the standard tip splits through the back of Berserk Archer's head, and Atalanta, her momentum stopped entirely by the force of Jeanne's standard, just stands there, her limbs trembling like she's suffering a micro-seizure while her eyes slowly but surely roll up into the top of her head. It almost looks like she's trying to look up at the polearm that's lodged through her brain, but that's no longer the case when her eyes go further up than they normally should.

But when I glance to my side at Jeanne, she, too, seems petrified, rooted to the ground where she stands. She stares with big, empty eyes that also tremble at the sight of the girl whose head she's impaled with her weapon, while Atalanta, while very clearly dying, seems to refuse to die, clinging onto life as much as she can. So I take it upon myself to finish the job.

Gripping Jeanne's standard, I tear it out of Atalanta's head and toss it behind me over to Jeanne for her to pick up, and I walk up close to her, as if to hug her, and I wrap my right arm around the back of her head to grip her face. Breathing in, I concentrate on making this a clean kill, even though by this point it really isn't - and I snap her neck with a single, brutal _crack_.

Jeanne watches emptily as the body of Berserk Archer tumbles to the ground where she stands. The ragdoll effect that bodies produce when they're killed like this never ceases to haunt me, and evidently they'll haunt Jeanne, too.

Turning to Ruler, I walk over to her quickly and pick up her bloody standard for her to take back, but I practically have to shove it into her hands for her to take it back.

"C'mon, Jeanne, we gotta go," I urge her.

She just nods, very emptily.


	50. Fire with Fire

**A/N:**

 **Konami-kun 2000: that's a good point, I didn't think about August asking Da Vinci about the bodies of defeated Servants when he really should. I'll do my best to make sure to include that at some point, and I think I know a good time to.**

 **IIRC Jeanne in the Nasuverse is a pacifist; while she's led armies and has participated in battles, she's never actually killed anyone, hence her reaction when she does kill Berserk Atalanta in the previous chapter. Again, this is a good chance for me to reiterate what I wrote in the first chapter's A/N that as someone who's not intimately familiar with the Nasuverse as he should be, my interpretations/depictions of Fate characters and their behavior/conduct may be inaccurate and I'll do what I can to correct them if they're just way too far off what they should be.**

 **And as for the fight with Berserk Atalanta, if I chose to write this story in third-person, I would definitely spend another whole chapter depicting everyone's fights - but since this is in first-person, unfortunately the writing is limited to what August can see/is doing. And while Saber Lily is certainly strong, she's very inexperienced, hence why Berserk Atalanta was able to get the first hit on her. Do keep in mind that it's Lily who does crippling damage to Atalanta with Caliburn, too, so it's not like I made her out to be a complete scrub.**

 **I will include ingame events as long as new Servants have been introduced with them - I'll try to include all of them if possible, but I don't want to sit here and make empty promises.  
**

 **jnwosu100: the Master in FGO, from what I understand, doesn't directly participate in combat himself/herself, but rather supports his/her Servants from the backline with Mystic Code skills and Command Spells if need be. Which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but as you yourself described, I prefer Masters who aren't just support-type characters/the helpless or dumb kind and who take a more active role.  
**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

By the time we've dealt with Berserk Archer, most of the dragon army's already busy engaging both the Servants and the French Army itself, and thanks to our strategy of having the Servants draw most of the dragons' attention, including that of Fafnir whom Siegfried and St. George are currently dealing with, Jeanne and I are able to slip past the rear lines of the dragons and reach the city itself. Surprisingly, there aren't actually any dragons or other such enemies within the city itself - which probably means Jalter chose to dump _all_ of her forces at us. That, and I suppose Jalter's forces weren't as big as we thought - but maybe it makes sense, given that this Singularity is, what, only a few days old, and we've done a lot in just two or three days.

Actually, that brings up yet another question - do the incidents that occur within a Singularity begin before we enter it? Because Matthew, Tamamo, the Sabers, and I entered the Singularity basically the moment it appeared, and France was already in the shitter by that point. So yeah, I guess I just answered my own question.

"This way, Master! If we run along the rooftops, it will be faster!" Jeanne calls to me over her shoulder, as she's currently leading me to the Orleans castle where Jalter most likely is, and she leaps up onto a nearby rooftop. I follow shortly after joining the French saint on the roofs as we hop from one to another in as close of a bird's-eye path to the castle as we can.

"Why would Jalter retreat back to the castle? To summon more dragons or other reinforcements?" I yell over at Jeanne as we're traversing the rooftops.

"Perhaps so, but we won't know for certain until we reach the castle! After all, she is in possession of the Holy Grail, so what she can do with it, we do not know!" Jeanne hollers back.

Once we start nearing the castle, Jeanne and I hear the muffled and echoing screeches of more wyverns coming from within the castle, and without much warning than that, several of the windows on the first, second, and third floors of the castle burst open suddenly as green, red, and black wyverns swoop right on out, having detected our approach and taking the prerogative to attack us before we can reach the building. Stopping immediately on the rooftop on which I land after seeing the wyverns emerge to attack, I pull out my marksman rifle again.

"Jeanne, hold your position, I'll get these guys off us!" I yell over to Jeanne just before beginning to pull the trigger, and my rifle cracks out repeatedly as mana bullet after mana bullet strikes our attackers. Jeanne obeys wordlessly, also stopping two rooftops ahead of me and assuming a defensive stance with her battle standard as I mow down the wyverns swiftly. I get the sense that these wyverns are somewhat weaker than the ones we've been fighting so far, because I don't even need a clean headshot to kill them - simply hitting them in the chest or abdomen will do, it seems, or in vital joints and bones of their wings to clip them and render them incapable of flight.

Jeanne only needs to defend herself from the initial few wyverns who reach her before my steady stream of mana bullets knock them and their comrades down, and a few more when I need some time to reload and recharge my rifle magazine with more mana bullets. Soon, it gets to the point where Jeanne just kind of stands there watching wyverns get shot out of the air and crash with loud thuds onto the roads and ground beneath her.

After a total of thirty-four wyverns shot, I reload my partially expended magazine as I hop over to Jeanne to join her, as no more wyverns are popping out of the castle - for now, anyway.

"You good?" I ask her, checking her with a cursory glance for any visible wounds, of which there are none. "Let's go."

Not saying anything, Jeanne leaps off again to lead me into the castle, which we enter using one of the broken windows, and we find ourselves in a side corridor. The corridor already reeks with a magical dampness, and I can also smell faint traces of blood in the air, an unfortunate sign that everyone in the castle has already been butchered, presumably when Jalter took control of it.

"Which way?" I ask her, looking around with my twin Desert Eagles armed instead of my rifle to adapt to the confines of a building interior. Jeanne is also looking around, but she seems unsure.

"This...I don't recognize this part of the castle..." Jeanne murmurs urgently, and the pressure that she's feeling is palpable in her voice.

"You've been here before, right?"

"Yes, when I escorted the Dauphin to claim his crown here in Orleans," Jeanne nods. "But as it was a ceremony, we entered through the main hall, and this is clearly a side hall..."

"But you didn't enter the throne room or wherever?"

"Er, no...I was only ever in the main hall. And besides, Jalter may be keeping the Holy Grail in a place other than the throne room..."

"I highly doubt that, but..."

Taking matters into my own hands, I clasp Mustang, the Desert Eagle I traditionally hold with my right hand, the one with the red and black chrome finish, with my teeth in order to throw out another Comsat Scan. The effectiveness of my scanning spell is tremendously reduced due to the fact that I'm trying to send it through layers upon layers of castle walls, but even still, I should at least be able to get a sense of where Jalter's at. We _did_ just kill all the wyverns patrolling the castle corridors, and it's not like Jalter left any survivors, so...

My efforts pay off, and I sense a faint signature on what seems to be about the second floor, which should be close by. Actually, scratch that, I feel two signatures, not just one.

"There're two people on the second floor," I report to my ally. "It's probably Jalter and somebody else."

"Somebody else..." Jeanne narrows her eyebrows, frowning in thought.

"Think you know who it is?"

"I...I can't say, no..."

"Then let's found out for ourselves."

"Y-Yes, follow me, I think I can at least get us to the main hall from here..."

A part of me wonders why Jeanne didn't just do that the moment we broke into the castle, but whatever - I follow her to the main hall, and from there we climb up the main staircase to the second floor. I use the memory of my signature detection to guide the two of us towards our presumed objective, and sure enough, the moment we take a turn to face a corridor that should lead us to the entrance of that room, we see someone standing in front of where that room should be.

It's some guy wearing what's quite honestly a fabulous dark cape and robes with a collar so swollen that it takes me a moment to realize that it's part of his clothes and not some sort of accessory due to its sheer size and clashing color scheme of sharp red with light black. A sunflower? A bloody sunflower? Is that what it's supposed to be?

In any case, he immediately turns to us the moment we turn the corner and spy him from our end of the corridor. The first thing other than his ridiculous collar that I notice is his eyes - they're staring in opposite directions, like someone with the most extreme case of amblyopia I've ever seen. I've met people with lazy eyes before, but this guy takes the fucking cake for this shit.

"Well, well, long time no see, my beautiful Jeanne...!" the guy takes a deep and flagrant bow. Surprisingly, he speaks in English, though it's French-accented, understandably. Is he speaking in English just so that I can understand? How thoughtful of him.

"G..." Jeanne clenches her teeth as her hands clench her standard. "Gilles!"

I want to do a double-take - that's the same guy as the Marshal leading the French Army?

"He the same guy?" I ask Jeanne quickly, and she nods, though she can't explain further because Gilles de Rais continues speaking.

"Who knew that you would defeat Fafnir, and show yourself here in Orleans..." Gilles goes on. As he's speaking rather flamboyantly, it suddenly dawns on me - if my extremely rusty knowledge of French history holds true, this must be the Gilles de Rais during his days as Bluebeard, whereas the Gilles de Rais who's the Marshal was him from before that time. Jesus, what a change. "To be honest, I am impressed, truly impressed..."

Then, the enemy Gilles's face contorts quite savagely into a positively insane, teeth-clenched frown of spontaneous rage. He looks so angry, it no longer looks frightening and makes him look like a fucking idiot instead, but that could just be me.

"However! _However!"_ he starts to screech, not unlike the wyverns we've been fighting for the past couple of days. "Oh, my saint! And your comrades - why do you stand in my way? You come into my world destroying _eeeeeeeverything,_ and now you're even trying to kill Jeanne d'Arc!"

I give Gilles an incredulous look. He's one of _those_ guys...

"Actually, Gilles..." Jeanne returns calmly, despite his clear raving. "I had a question about that. Is she...is that Jeanne really...'me'?"

At this inquiry, Gilles takes a dramatic step backwards, and I'm amazed he doesn't trip over his own robes in doing so.

"W-What... _w-w-w-what unforgivable blasphemy!"_ he rages again. "Even the Saint would despair and rage to hear such a thing! No, make no mistake, Jeanne, that is, without a doubt, the _true_ Jeanne d'Arc. It is the darkness - _the darkness hidden within her!"_

Lowering her standard Jeanne glares hard at Gilles.

"I see. Then, as the light, I must face her," she concludes firmly, and this provokes yet another enraged scream from this Gilles.

 **"Jeanne, I won't let anyone stop me - not even _you!"_** he spouts, and the book in his right hand that's bound in - God, is that actual human skin? - flips open by itself, and dark portals open up all around him to spit out these Eldritch creatures that look like demonic octopi, just with even more tentacles and shit for heads.

"Master!" Jeanne calls out to me, but she doesn't even need to say a word. Dropping Mustang and catching it with my left hand to have it hold two pistols at once, I simultaneously raise my free hand up at Gilles and snap my fingers.

The resulting explosion blasts our ears, as the hall allows sound to travel much more easily, and the wind that the explosion generates whips past us. Undeterred, the monsters that have survived fly straight at us through the explosion smoke, and Jeanne, grunting loudly, lunges forward and smashes her battle standard down on one of them while I support her with my two handguns, spamming shots downrange as fast as I can. The reports of my two handcannons fill the entire hall - if Jeanne was a normal human, I would most definitely be permanently damaging her eardrums right about now. Thankfully she's a Servant, so I don't have to worry about that.

But what I do have to worry about are the demons, which Gilles is summoning at an insane rate. With my speed at which I fire my mana bullets and reload them, I'm barely keeping the demons at bay, but then again the bodies of the demons are just pilling up in front of us, making it difficult for the demons to traverse the floor, so they start crawling up on the walls instead.

"Jeanne, can you deal with these guys by yourself? I'm gonna go straight for Gilles!" I call over to Jeanne - it's a bad idea, since Gilles can hear us and prepare accordingly, but it's not like I have a choice here.

"Yes, I will be fine! We need to stop him!" Jeanne says, slashing away at another demon trying to throw itself at her, but as I turn to Gilles, I barely spot him slipping through a pair of doors inside the room.

"He's gone inside!" I report, emptying my pistols at a nearby demon and tossing them aside - the pistols slip inside their magical storage runes that open up as soon as I discard them - in order to slice the next few demons apart with my Touchknife, cutting the air apart with razor-sharp swipes and painting the walls with demonic blood. Without Gilles to continually summon them, Jeanne and I quickly clean up the rest of the sea creature-like demons, and we leap over the piles of dead monsters to reach the pair of doors that lead into what's presumably the throne room - or not.

"Ready?" I ask Jeanne while reloading my empty pistols while I have the time.

"Yes, whenever you are, Master," Jeanne nods firmly, so putting my pistols back away, I take a step back to charge my fist with even more mana. My mana consumption's already been dangerously high for today, but it's not like I have a choice, at least not in this current position that Jeanne and I find ourselves in.

"Get behind me, Jeanne, this might hit you too," I warn her.

Jeanne ducks behind me quickly, and I take a few powerful steps towards the door and smash my knuckles against the middle crack between the doors.

The resulting explosion doesn't just force open the doors, it apparently just blows them right open, snapping them off their hinges because they swing and hit the walls next to them so hard. Turns out, the doors weren't even locked - whoops.

But I don't let that blunder show on my face as I calmly step into the room with Jeanne behind me, eyeing the contents of the room with a hardened look.

"Oh come now, is that how you enter someone else's room?"

Jalter's annoyingly condescending voice greets us first as the smoke clears naturally to reveal us to the occupants of the room before us, Gilles de Rais and Jalter, who're now facing us. Gilles is standing next to the Holy Grail that's set on a quaint little table, while the throne behind him sits on its lonely pedestal. Above the throne is a limp corpse that's not only been stabbed right up the ass - and I don't think I'm kidding when I say that - with a vicious-looking metal stake but also charred beyond recognition, though just one look at the corpse tells me that the corpse has been that way for a few days now and not something done terribly recently.

But Jalter drops her sneer and puts on a more serious look, surprisingly enough.

"...but that was faster than I thought. I guess I don't have the time to modify the spell now..."

Jeanne steps forward bravely, but she remains at my side.

"'Dragon Witch'..." she speaks out to her evil alter ego.

"So you finally made it here, huh?" Jalter sneers back at Jeanne. "You weren't even able to finish off Gilles, how pathetic...but I suppose that works out in its own way. Everything's already ready, even as is..."

"I have something to ask you," Jeanne announces first.

"Ask me something? Now, of all times? A bit too late for that, don't you th - "

"It's a very simple question, trust me, and it won't take long. Do you remember your family?" Jeanne interrogates.

Jalter pulls on a very confused look, clearly wondering why Jeanne's asking her a question like this all of a sudden.

"...huh?" is all she can say at first.

"You heard me, Jalter," Jeanne presses on. "No matter how vivid my memories of battle are, I remember far more of my life as a simple country girl. Even my dark side should remember those days...those peaceful days of old. No, it's...it's precisely _because_ she remembers them - that the hatred and betrayal brought her such pain."

The two of us both watch Jalter slowly clench her teeth as Jeanne talks. Gilles behind her is also blinking in confusion, but it seems that he can sense Jalter's rising anger, so he gets visibly distraught over Jalter's apparent frustration.

"J-Jeanne, just - just ignore them, my dear Jeanne, they wish to - " Gilles tries to reassure her, but Jalter cuts him off.

"W-What does that fucking matter?!" Jalter bursts out angrily, snarling vehemently at Jeanne. "That's not important right now! Regardless of that bullshit, I'm still Jeanne d'Arc, you bitch!"

Jeanne's expression softens up, even just a little, but sadly so. "That's right...it doesn't matter whether or not you remember," she agrees. "But this settles it. I will have to defeat you, the 'Dragon Witch', not with anger, but with sadness."

 _ **"MY SERVANTS!"**_

Bellowing with self-righteous fury, Jalter rips out her black sword from its sheath and whips it out in front of her, and the Holy Grail glows with its valiant light to produce murky black hazes all around the room in the space between us and Jalter. Quickly looking around and counting, I see no less than fourteen of them, but at least there aren't any forming behind us, so likely we won't have to worry about a two-front battle.

Narrowing my eyes, I raise my two pistols the moment I see figures materializing into view within these murky black hazes, and once they fully materialize, I open fire.

When Jalter said "My Servants", I immediately assumed that these enemies would be much tougher than the wyverns or monsters that we've dealt with today, so I dump my mana bullets currently stocked in my guns so that I can reload them with stronger, much more concentrated mana bullets, so my next set of reloads packs my guns with very powerful bullets, strong enough to match the explosive punches that I can throw around. My opening attack naturally provokes the summoned incomplete Servants, who charge at me, but honing my focus, I stand my ground calmly but resolutely and gun down every single Servant that tries to come close. The Servants I shoot get sent flying in random directions as the power of my strong mana bullets smash into them and explode like grenades, and for several of them, the bullets simply tear them in half and cause them to disappear immediately.

Once their numbers start thinning out and I notice that the number of summoning hazes start to dwindle, I throw aside my pistols and pull out my KSG-12 shotgun instead, and I just blast the rest of the charging Servants individually, filling the room with shotgun blasts and the metallic, melodic scraping of the pump mechanism instead. So much for them being called "Servants" when in reality they're little more than just zombies.

With the final Servant who lunges at me, I lower my shotgun and thrust my left hand at the Servant's chest, impaling it with my entire hand. I pull him down to the floor, pull my hand back out, turn him around, stick the muzzle of my pump shotgun right underneath his chin, and pull the trigger. There's no blood, and I toss the ethereal corpse aside as it evaporates from sight even before it hits the ground.

"Hmmm...? Not bad, I suppose," Jalter raises an eyebrow at me as I slip my Keltec back in its storage rune. "It seems your Master is no pushover, Jeanne. You should rejoice over that fact. However..."

She swiftly raises her black sword up in the air.

 _"This...is the howl of hatred which was polished with my soul!"_

As she speaks these words, I sense an alarming surge of mana emanating from Jalter. Jeanne senses this too, for she starts screaming as she lurches forward towards me,

"Master, she's going to use her Noble Phantasm again! Get behind me - _Defend my breathr - "_

 _ **"LE GRONDEMENT DE LA HAINE!"  
**_

Jalter whips her sword forward at us, and around her feet, vicious flames suddenly burst up and fly straight at the two of us with breakneck speed. The moment I see them launch themselves at us, I know that Jeanne won't have time to finish her Noble Phantasm's incantation.

So the first thing I do is reach out with my right arm without looking and shove Jeanne away as hard as possible. This I succeed in doing, a bit _too_ well, because I can hear Jeanne thud against the wall to my right, but obviously I don't have any more time to spare to get myself out of the way too - not that I think it would've bee possible for that in the first place.

The flames smash into me and rip me off the floor, and they carry me relentlessly out of the throne room and slam me against the corridor wall outside. The slam stuns me briefly, and I crash back down onto the floor in a belly-flop, but as I try to lift myself off the floor, without warning, a massive stake splits out of the floor right underneath my torso and impales me, dragging me straight up into the air in the middle of the corridor as the flames intensify and blast upwards like a furnace, roasting me from head to toe.

* * *

I've always been fascinated by fire.

Ever since I was young, fire was one of the few things that would put me into a lull, a trance - there's something about fire that awes me, entrances me. For fire to be able to produce light and heat, to cook food, to burn paper and other flammable materials, and to destroy buildings and houses...once I understood what fire was capable of, I found myself mesmerized whenever looking at a flame, no matter the size or potency.

Because the ability to both create _and_ destroy is something very rare, in my experience as a short-lived human. That same experience has taught me that it is exceedingly easy to destroy things, much easier than it is to create. After all, when you create something, typically you put time, care, and effort into your creations, depending on your level of mastership in creating said product, and that time, care, and effort are what make the concept of creation inherently more difficult than destruction, because in destroying something, you don't care about it a damn bit - your objective is to destroy that product, after all, so caring about it is inherently removed from the equation, and thus all the difficulty that comes with it.

And yet fire can do either, depending on how it's controlled and utilized. I suppose along that logic, all the elements are able to do just that, but I find myself attracted to fire the most, because out of all the elements, fire is the loudest and most brazen in its destruction, and arguably the most dangerous to wield or use. You can make mistakes when handling the other elements to a degree, but with fire, you always need to be vigilant, or at the very least not make as many mistakes as you would when using other elements.

The sharpness, the brutality, the fury, the passion...I suppose you could say that these are the things that I see in fire that not only do I tremendously respect but also want to emulate.

So I went and did just that.

After all, fire was all I had.

When I had nothing else.

* * *

Jeanne's screams snap me back to attention. They're muffled over the blaze of the flames that are roasting me alive, but I hear them nonetheless.

I find myself still impaled on the stake that Jalter's sent to kill me, and it's torn right through the bottom of my right lung, which explains the immensely sharp pain I feel whenever I try to breathe, and it's already hard enough to breathe as is with all this smoke filling my fucking lungs. Not that I'm bothered by that.

Whatever, enough hanging out on this stupid thing. I firmly grasp the stake with both hands, ignoring to the best of my ability the excruciating pains that come with it, and taking as deep of a breath as I can without coughing up blood, I push myself off the stake, and I clench my teeth together not only from the pain of removing myself off the stake that's impaled me but also from the great pain that follows when I crash back down onto the ground, for the stake lifted me up a good six feet or so into the air. The crash causes me to violently retch, and I cough up some more blood onto the floor.

But once I'm done expelling blood from my injured lung out of my mouth, I get up, slowly but surely, making sure that I don't accidentally cause myself to hurl more blood from getting up too fast. I gaze into the room through the flames, and I see Jeanne being held captive by several of Gilles' Eldritch monster things while Jalter stands before her, holding her own version of her battle standard in one hand and her black sword in the other.

So I walk back into the room, wiping the blood from my lips as I do so. The sound of my footsteps beyond the doors I've blasted open earlier attract the attention of everyone inside, and Jalter, most noticeably, produces the most violent reaction to the sight of me sporting a bloody hole in my torso while walking back inside the throne room.

"M-Master!" Jeanne cries out, clearly surprised but ecstatic that I'm somehow still alive.

"Y-You!" Jalter screams, beside herself with fury when she's realized that not even her Noble Phantasm was enough to put me down for good. "You're just a human! How the fuck did you survive that?! _Your clothes aren't even burned, what the fuck is this?!"_

Coughing a few more times, though I do it politely by covering my mouth with my left fist as if I'm in polite company, I grimace back at the clearly infuriated Jalter.

"Did you think you were the only flame user here, by chance?" I ask her.

Jalter blinks at me.

"What?"

In response, a circle of flames suddenly blaze into view around my own feet for a moment, spitting up, one by one, eight orbs of flame that begin to revolve around me, all counterclockwise. They revolve in such a way that their flames trail behind them, so in essence, they're swirling around me slowly and calmly as the flames around my feet die down somewhat but still continue to blaze along the floor around my own feet.

"Your flames..." I cough once last time, now that I've managed to stabilize my condition by using the flames that I've released to cauterize my internal wounds, as indicated by the sizzles wafting out of the entrance and exit wounds in my torso. "They're very strong, I could tell. They hurt quite a bit..."

 _"I don't need your praise, I need you **dead!"**_ Jalter shrieks back at me, raising her sword once more and shoving it in my direction, this time causing flames to blast up from right underneath me, but that doesn't really accomplish much, as Jalter finds to her utmost dismay once her attack finishes and she finds me just standing there still, flames and all.

"I can see that, but - I'd like to ask you one thing first," I tell her. "Earlier, when Jeanne asked you if you remember her family, it seemed like you didn't know, yet you still claimed that you're the real Jeanne d'Arc."

 _ **"And what the fuck is it to you!?"**_ Jalter bellows at the top of her lungs now, almost shaking the throne room itself with how hard she's yelling. _**"That's none of your fucking business! ! !"**_

"It is now, and here's why," I snarl back calmly, if that's even possible. "As strong as your flames are, they didn't kill me because there's no substance in them. You claim that you're the real Jeanne d'Arc, or I suppose more accurately, you claim to be the dark side of Jeanne, hence why we call you 'Jalter', or Jeanne Alter for short. So if that's the case, your flames should have killed me on the spot. The hatred, the raw emotional power of a saint who'd been betrayed by her own country after having done so much for it in such a short period of time would have been enough many times over to kill a lousy fuckin' human like me, and it should've. But it wasn't. See where I'm goin' with this?"

As I lay out my rationalization before my opponent, I watch Jalter start clenching her teeth harder and harder and harder.

"Without going into unnecessary detail, as someone who also uses fire in a similar way, I know when someone's been through some shit if I get hit by one of their attacks," I tell Jalter, gesticulating somewhat with my left hand. "So the only real conclusion I can make here is that you're not actually the 'dark side' of Jeanne. You're someone else - you look like Jeanne, you say that you're Jeanne, but you're not actually Jeanne. The fact that you refused to answer Jeanne's earlier question about whether or not you remember your family just cements - "

Without waiting for me to finish, Jalter, out of rage, raises her blackened sword again, and this time she produces a set of spiraling mana swords of flame right over my head.

 _ **"YOUR PATH ENDS HERE, FOOL - !"**_

I respond by quickly snapping my fingers, and a spontaneous airburst of flame demolishes the mana swords spiraling over my head in preparation to behead me.

" - that," I finish my thought. "Therefore, I can only assume that you're either another Heroic Spirit entirely who just happens to look like Jeanne and is trying to imitate her for reasons I don't know, or you're a fabrication created just for the purposes of this Singularity who's been modeled after the real Jeanne over here. Am I wrong, Gilles?" I glance over at Gilles, who takes a step back when I do so, but I turn back to face Jalter again. "And since I'll be assuming the latter, since the former is just such a weird and bizarre situation, that means that you haven't been through the shit that the real Jeanne has. You never got burned at the stake, so your hatred of them isn't real. You think it is because that's what you were led to believe when you were created for this Singularity, and to your credit, you believe in that with such intensity that you make your power strong off faith alone. But this means that your flames, while they're certainly strong, don't mean shit to me. All these flames you throw around, it's like a kid throwin' a fucking tantrum. A lethal tantrum, sure, but not to me."

"Shut...shut up...that's not true, you piece of shit...!" Jalter croaks, but her voice is cracking.

"J-Jeanne! Yes, yes, that - that man's words is nothing but drivel! Drivel produced by the sin of insanity!" Gilles declares dramatically as ever, which earns him a small little grin of amusement from me. "He is trying to invalidate your very existence! Do not let him, my dear Jeanne! Show him that he is wrong! Show him that you are real, O my dear Jeanne!"

"Yes...yes, that's right, Gilles..." Jalter agrees under her breath, but her eyes don't share the same sentiment that her words do as she grips her sword even more tightly than before. "I don't even know who you are. You're just some stupid Master who's just barged in here and is ruining everything that I'm trying to do. You don't even know me, and yet you stand there talking like you do...!"

"You don't want this fight, Jalter," I warn her calmly, narrowing my eyes at her as the flame swirls continue to revolve around me, awaiting my command.

 _ **"THEN DIE!"**_

Screaming, Jalter lunges at me, sword in hand and raised with a pile of savage flames surrounding both her and her sword.

Quickly taking off my glasses, I fling them at Jalter. They hit her square in the face - and smash her with about the same force as a punch.

Not expecting my glasses of all things to hit her that hard, Jalter screams out, though more in surprise than actual pain, but the important thing is that she's stopped in her tracks, having stopped out of surprise, and I flash-step towards her and bury my right fist into her gut, forcing her to keel over on her feet, clutching her stomach. While she's reeling, I reach up with my left hand and snatch my glasses that've rebounded off Jalter's face to slide them back onto my own.

"Why you - "

The moment Jalter gets back up, or tries to, I bury my right fist into the side of Jalter's face again. But this time, I don't just stop there. Whaling away at her, I repeatedly punch her over and over and over with as much strength that'll keep my punches strong but not send Jalter flying off her feet. Gilles screeches in rage yet again, trying to summon more demons to stop me, but the eight orbs of flame blast away from me to target the demons summoning in at Gilles' request, including the ones that were already summoned and holding Jeanne captive. While my flames keep Gilles distracted, I end my little combo on Jalter with a clean drive punch aimed for her nose, and my knuckles meet it and detonate an explosion at the same time, blasting Jalter off her feet this time and sandwiching her against the far wall past the throne.

As gravity slowly peels Jalter off that wall and causes her to slump onto her knees, I generate another set of eight flames around me, and raising my hand out to my side, they accumulate out from my fist in the shape of a sword. I raise it up, blade pointed down at the floor, and recite,

 _"都牟刈の太刀."_

Stabbing the sword of flame into the floor, I cause a moderate wave of bright flames to kick up from the floor where I've buried the sword and cascade horizontally towards Jalter, who sees it coming and tries to get out of the way, but she can't recover from that barrage of punches in time to dodge, and so the flames hit her head-on and bury her, and I listen unflinchingly to her subsequent shrieks of agony that only barely can be heard over the blazing screams of the flames that I've just inundated Jalter's side of the throne room with.

Fortunately for Jalter, my flames don't last long - I don't have the energy to sustain them for very long, especially not after getting impaled, so Jalter reappears when my own flames die down, crumpling down on the floor against the wall. Really, you wouldn't be able to tell that Jalter was hurt at all, aside from the numerous scorch marks on her clothes and body, and Jalter is still breathing heavily, a clear indication of life.

"Noooo! Jeanne, my precious Jeanne!" Gilles cries out as he hurries in that ridiculous getup of his over to the collapsed Jalter, and when he reaches her, he turns around at me, though due to his extreme amblyopia I can't really take him seriously. "You - you _savage!_ How dare - _how dare you desecrate my beloved creation!"_

I grin a little. Guess I didn't have to beat that out of him - not that I ever planned to, since I kind of already knew.

"Hey, Gilles," I call over to him. "Can I ask you something as well? Depending on how well you cooperate with me here, I won't kill Jalter."

"As if I would ever answer to the likes of _you!"_ Gilles spits back. His reactions are starting to become comical, actually.

I just ignore him, though, and I go ahead and ask anyway.

"I just wanted to make sure - you also go by the name 'Bluebeard' as per your legend, right?"

"And? So what of it, heathen?!"

"Nothing," I shake my head, starting to take a step forward at him. "Forget I asked."

The next step I take in his direction after I say those last few words, I plant myself directly in front of him, and before he can even show any signs of reaction, I plant the toe of my shoe against his face.

Gilles shrieks when I punt his face against the wall directly behind him, but I ignore it. Seizing him by his face like a professional basketball player would grip a basketball with a single hand, I turn and hurl him away from Jalter, back into the center of the room, and I flash-step back over to him before he can try anything funny, which he does by attempting to open that human skin-bound book of his to summon more demons. So I swipe downwards with my two fingers and cut his hand off using Touchknife and kick the book behind me in Jeanne's direction.

Gilles screams all sorts of things at me in French that I don't understand, but I'm not particularly interested to know what they are as I plant my knee against Gilles's chest and start beating his face in with both of my fists. No flames, no mana, just me and my good ol' fashioned arms that're about as thin as pencils because I don't believe in this thing called bench-press. Gilles desperately tries to defend himself with his arms, but as per the norm for a caster of the olden days, without his spellbook, he's utterly defenseless, and his pathetic excuse of arms don't exactly make the cut. I punch him until I start punching blood straight out of his face and eye sockets, painting the floor around him with streaks of his own blood. Just to add insult to injury, halfway through my beatdown, I grab one of his weakening, flailing arms, pull my knee off his chest to get up and stomp his shoulder with my foot instead, and yank on his arm until I tear it off, with a few stomps to help me out. Now armed with his...arm, I smash the torn end of his arm against his own face to the point where the jagged ends of the bones that jut out slash his face into an indescribable mess.

By this point, Gilles isn't even moving, but I'm not done with him quite yet. Tossing his dismembered arm aside, I plunge my right hand into Gilles's chest with the help of Touchknife, aiming for his spine in between his lungs, and grabbing hold of it, I lift him up off the ground with it and raise him up into the air.

"...Master...?" Jeanne croaks softly behind me.

But a sudden, violent _whoosh_ of powerful flames drowns her out again, and flames start blasting out of Gilles' mouth as if he's become a human blowtorch. I amp up my mana output considerably, and I completely drown his corpse in flames until it becomes one big fireball, and I keep this up until his corpse can no longer handle the sheer intensity of flames I'm dumping into him. Bloating up for a short while, Gilles finally explodes, courtesy of one final mana burst that I detonate inside his chest that tears his corpse in half and sends them flying in opposite directions, with his incinerated innards taking flight everywhere in between, including all over me.

I exhale deeply.

Satisfactory.

As I turn around to face Jeanne, who's now standing in front of the charred corpses of demons that my flames have dispatched of while facing me, my mind blanks out painfully, and I grimace hard, raising a hand to rub my forehead and temples. Way too much mana expended in too short of a time...I likely won't be using any more mana for the day, or rather, I shouldn't. So long as Jalter doesn't try to do anything...

"Jeanne, secure the Grail for me, I've gotta sit down," I tell Jeanne as I already ease myself down the ground to rest, and Jeanne, snapping back to attention, nods and hurries over to the Grail to grab it and brings it over to me.

"Y-You did it, Master...!" Jeanne says hoarsely, as if she can't believe what she's just seen, but I hear clear signs of fear and apprehension in her voice, too. "Please, allow me to heal you at least a little..."

"Yeah, sure, thanks..."

As Jeanne sets down the Grail next to us and presses her hand against the impalement wound in my torso, which is only partly healed and is probably the reason why I'm feeling lightheaded and out of focus now, I open a comms rune to communicate with the rest of my Servants.

"Jeanne and I've secured the Holy Grail at the Orleans Castle, what's everyone's status?" I ask tiredly.

 _"We're just cleaning up the last few remnants of the enemy army, Master!"_ Martha shouts back. _"We've also defeated the enemy Servants and have taken them prisoner! Mr. Siegfried and George have also taken down Fafnir!"_

"Good work, everyone. Have the French Army move up and retake the city, and meet us at the Orleans throne room, it's on the second floor, you'll know where it is with all the bodies we've left behind..."

 _"Understood, Master!"_

 _"Master, I can't believe you just ran off without me!_ Please _tell me you're alright!"_ Tamamo also shrieks into my ear, which I don't mind.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Or, more accurately, I will be," I reassure her painfully.

 _"Oh, just what I thought - I'll be there before you know it, just hang in there! ! !"_

I shut off my comms rune as Jeanne pulls her hand away, evidently done with what healing she can do for me.

"Thanks again," I nod at her before glancing over at Jalter, who's been gazing over at us and averts her eyes when she realizes that I'm returning her gaze now. "I did tell you that you didn't want this fight, didn't I?"

"Tch. You're just a human..." Jalter spits back at me scornfully. "You only beat me because...because...I haven't properly been summoned as a Servant. That's all..."

"Maybe so - I'm not doubting you, but as weak as humans generally are, don't be surprised when a few of us can go toe-to-toe with you," I say back.

"Shut the fuck up..."

I sigh quietly. The exhaustion is finally catching up to me - the past few days of being contracted with so many Servants, expending so much of my own mana for combat and whatnot...I'm dangerously close to just keeling over and falling asleep right here on the spot. But I keep myself from doing so quite yet.

Looking back up at Jalter, I ask her,

"I know this'll sound like a weird request to make now of all times, but I'd like to ask if you're interested in coming with us," I offer her. "Now that we've got the Grail, once we leave France with it, this Singularity won't last, and neither will you or any of the Servants you've summoned. If you want to keep at it, I can offer to make a contract with you and take you with us outta here."

"Fuck you! Why would I do that...?" Jalter hisses back reflexively, so I shrug back at her instead.

"Suit yourself."

So we all just sit there, Jalter against the wall and Jeanne and I in the middle of the bloodstained room, in total silence for a few moments. But it's Jalter who eventually breaks it.

"...but I'll join you if you tell me your secret," Jalter mutters, keeping her gaze averted all the while.

"Secret? Secret to what?" I ask.

"Your power, what else, you dumb fucking idiot?" she snarls. "Why are your flames so much stronger than mine? Even though _I'm_ a Servant and _you're_ just a human! This isn't fair!"

Fair? Haven't heard that word in a while.

"Don't think you're in any position to demand anything, don't'cha think?" I simply smile back at her a little. "What makes you think I'll tell you that? I don't just give away secrets like that for free, especially not to someone who almost killed me a few moments ago."

"Then - then I'll - "

Jalter tries to get up, but Jeanne also rises up with her, planting her feet in front of me to defend me.

"Have you forgotten about me, Jalter?" Jeanne speaks fiercely at her alter form. "In your current state, you cannot get past me, and we all know it. Please stand down."

Gulping a little, Jalter reluctantly and tiredly plops back down.

"...fine, damn it," she grumbles hoarsely too. "I'll fucking go with you...I don't wanna stay in this fucking country anyway..."

I sigh one last time. While I was prepared to have to treat these Singularities with seriousness, I certainly wasn't prepared to be pushed this far. Not to mention, I've got all these Servants with me now - how the hell am I supposed to keep them all in my tiny house that can barely accommodate the five of us from before?

I guess it's safe to say that the most dangerous thing about these Singularities, as of right now, isn't what happens in them, but what happens after.

Here comes another headache...


	51. Almost a Full House

"Master!"

Upon seeing me, Matthew, Lily, Artoria, and Kiyohime all hurry over to me across the throne room. It appears that Jalter's dragon army has been completely subdued, and the French Army has marched into Orleans to retake it successfully while my Servants, escorting both the Marshal and the captured enemy Servants as well, file inside to rendezvous with me, Jeanne, and Jalter.

"Where are you hurt, Master?" Matthew demands worriedly, reaching out her hands uncertainly while her eyes scan my body up and down - I certainly look like shit, with my shirt and jacket torn in various places and scorched in many more, and my mutilation of Gilles' body has, mind you, showered blood and guts all over me, not all of which has been cleaned off, though Tamamo has done a solid job of it ever since she got here to treat me, which was about half an hour ago, when she immediately flew over to reach me once most of the battle was already done on their end.

"I'm fine, Tamamo patched me up pretty damn well," I reassure Matthew with a tired wave of my hand.

"And what of you?" Artoria, finding Jalter standing next to me, quickly points Excalibur at her.

"Relax, relax, I'm not your enemy anymore," Jalter grumbles, raising her hands lazily and just for a brief moment. "They've already got the Grail, see?"

"She's agreed to join us," I tell everyone before me, raising up the back of my right fist where my command spells are. "She won't be a problem now."

"How are you feeling now, Master?" Tamamo asks me in a low voice - having seen me in this state, she's been nothing but business all the way through, and I haven't felt the need to convince her otherwise.

"A lot better, thanks," I nod at her. "You should teach me healing magic at some point..."

"But, Master, don't you know some degree of regenerative magic too?" Jeanne points out. "You _did_ survive Jalter's Noble Phantasm somehow..."

"Ah, that..." I shake my head slowly. "That's just the side-effect of using fire. Since it's mana-based, using fire makes my body start processing lots of mana at once, which means that any internal injury I suffer gets cauterized. It's not an efficient method of healing by any means, but it's both convenient and good enough until I can get better medical attention. But even then, it's certainly not enough to fully heal something like this..." I pat my torso where Jalter's stake impaled me earlier.

"Fire...?" Matthew asks slowly. "Master, you know how to use flame-based spells?"

"They weren't spells."

The Servants in front of me, including Jeanne and Tamamo who're kneeling on the ground next to me, all turn their attention to Jalter, who continues to stand over me with her arms folded.

"He didn't use any spells against me. Isn't that right, _Master?_ " Jalter glares down at me a little. "At the very least, you didn't use any incantations; your flames were like mine in that they obeyed your every command without you even saying a word."

"There _are_ spells that you can use that don't require incantations, but that's besides the point," I shrug a little. "You're right, they're not spells, per se. That, and the things that I call 'spells' aren't exactly the same kind of spells that you probably know..."

"...huh? What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jalter scoffs, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nothin' much, really." I look up at Artoria and Matthew before me. "Everything done here?"

"Yes, the French Army is now occupying the city. We've confirmed that there are no more wyverns in the area," Matthew nods.

"Though, so long as _she's_ still around here, keep in mind that more dragons can still show up," Elizabeth points out as well. "Can't we just off her? It's _her_ fault for summoning that annoying Carmilla, after all..."

"What was that, baby dragon?" Jalter snaps to Liz, glaring at her with impunity, and Elizabeth instinctively takes a step backwards, gulping and cowering a little bit.

"Hey, Jalter, cool it," I warn her.

"But _she_ was the one who - !" Jalter snaps back to me with clenched teeth, but I raise a hand at her.

"She's not exactly wrong about that first part," I groan back, leaning back on my arms as support and arching my neck backwards to face the ceiling to let out a big sigh in the process. "And let's not fight - fuckin' royal pain in the ass to have to fight again, and when we're all supposed to be on the same side now..."

"You trust her so easily?" Salter muses calmly, also joining us.

"Probably not her directly, but with what little I know about her and what I can deduce about her, I know I can trust her motives for wanting to join us," I remark. "Besides, you put me in a similar situation. I'm sure the two of you'll get along pretty well just based off that."

Salter gives me a wry smile back. "Surely you jest, Master."

"We'll see if I am. For now..."

I slowly ease myself up to my feet, and alarmed, both Tamamo and Jeanne also stand up with me.

"You shouldn't be getting up right now, you've depleted so much mana!" Tamamo urges me. "Stabbed through your lung and then burning out your mana literally - how aren't you unconscious?!"

"That's what I wanna know too," Jalter grumbles again. "For a human, you're awfully resilient, and you even survived my Noble Phantasm like it was nothing. What kind of overpowered harem protagonist are you, exactly?"

I chuckle loudly at Jalter's snide comment. "I don't know about that whole harem protag part, though."

"Are you kidding? Or rather, are you blind?" Jalter scoffs the loudest she's done so far, gesturing out to the rest of the Servants. "Just look at how many of your Servants are girls!"

"Ah, I see. So just because I'm a guy, and there happens to be a lot of female Servants, you automatically assume that my goal is to build a harem of female Servants who'll fight for me and do whatever I ask 'em to?" I chuckle, deciding to have a little bit of fun with this. "I see, I see. It seems like I'm being generalized and stereotyped, how fun."

"I won't allow that! Master only needs _me,_ okay?!" Tamamo glomps me, which surprises me, since I'm still relatively splattered in blood, which means she doesn't mind it one bit.

"Now, now, Mademoiselle Tamamo, it is not good to keep Master all to yourself, you know ~ " Marie claps her hands together. "Though, Master does need a change of clothes immediately..."

"Ah, leave that to me ~ !" Tamamo reaches into her sleeves and pulls out a particularly large talisman. "Master, please hold onto this."

Taking the talisman from her without a word, I clasp it in my right hand when it flashes with a light blue light that softly blinds me for a moment, and when the light fades away, I look down at myself and find that my clothes and my skin have both been completely cleansed of Gilles' blood.

"Thanks...don't really like walkin' around drenched in blood..." I mutter with an exasperated sigh.

"Aw...your lovely wife's always here to support you, Master ~ " Tamamo reassures me, hugging my right arm. She's not just doing this just to be all cutesy and shit, she's directly transferring her leftover mana to me, and it's definitely helping me feel better, since I've been feeling like shit ever since I obliterated Gilles.

I do notice that Lily looks a little bit flustered at the sight of Tamamo flirting with me a little, and when I glance over at her, she quickly averts her eyes.

"Okay...we've secured the Grail and we've captured what Servants we could, including Jalter," I nod over at the leader of our enemies, who simply gnashes her teeth back at me a little. "If we're done here, let's head out and leave the country so that we can shut down the Singularity."

 _"Whoopsie ~ "_ the usual blue hologram suddenly pops out of Matthew's chest again, and Da Vinci is now depicted sitting in Roman's seat.

"Hey. What's Roman up to?" I ask Da Vinci.

 _"Oh, he's on break right now, but I'm butting in to give you instructions on what to do next. Oh, and good work on securing that Grail, by the way, but I think that just goes without saying,"_ Da Vinci winks at me. _"Now, like before, you'll need to make your way out of the country to collapse that Singularity and get rid of it. However, when you do so, head down to Switzerland - we want you to stop by headquarters before you return home."_

"To headquarters? Is that really alright, Lady Da Vinci?" Matthew exclaims, clearly taken back by Da Vinci's suggestion.

 _"It's more than just alright, I'm afraid, Matthew,"_ Da Vinci replies, and a sudden shift in her tone of voice signals a turn for the more serious. _"Many of you probably have already realized by now, but August can't sustain supplying_ all _of you with mana on his own. Assuming that he'll also make contracts with the other Servants you've captured, that will bring the number of Servants directly contracted with him to eighteen - and remember that in a standard Holy Grail War, Masters ordinarily only ever need to worry about supporting just one."_

" _And_ he has been fighting just as hard as we were for the past several days, and he even defeated Jalter on his own, essentially," Jeanne adds. "Honestly, Mademoiselle Tamamo is right; this is most definitely the work of a miracle that keeps him still standing."

"Oh, so you're calling Tamamo a miracle?" I joke a bit. "I'm not in a position to dispute that, frankly."

"Awww, you're too sweet, Master ~ !" Tamamo squeals, starting to rub her face into my arm. It burns a little with how hard she's doing that, but it's fine. She doesn't keep that up for long, for she pulls her face off the side of my arm to talk to Da Vinci. "I've been telling him to take it easy, that we can do all the heavy lifting for him, but _noooo_ , he always wants to be a hero and do things on his own!"

"Well, no, I'm not _trying_ to be a hero, I just like taking matters into my own hands..." I try to correct Caster, but she gives me a cute little pout and turns her face away.

 _"Well, in any case, once we realized that August would be taking more Servants under his wing, Roman and I have been hard at work preparing Chaldea as a secondary base of sorts,"_ Da Vinci goes on. _"So that's why we want you to come to Chaldea so that we can finalize our preparations here."_

"What sort of preparations are they?" Matthew inquires.

 _"Secondary mana reservoirs,"_ Da Vinci answers, sipping on a cup of something, probably coffee. _"If we can get August hooked up to these, he won't have to worry about having to sustain so many Servants at the same time using just his own mana alone; no matter how strong he is, he can't sustain both you all and fighting with all of you at the same time, at least not for too long. These secondary mana reservoirs will allow him to basically not worry about that predicament."  
_

"That is a good idea, Lady Da Vinci," Artoria nods with approval. "The rapid consumption of mana that we Servants have been imposing upon our Master has been a constant concern for us. Once this problem is solved, it means that we Servants will also be relieved of the burden of restraining ourselves in order not to endanger Master's life."

"Yeah...now just the problem of _actually finding the damn headquarters_ ," I sigh heavily. "Do keep in mind that I don't actually know where Chaldea is, by the way."

 _"What? I know you've been here before, August,"_ Da Vinci looks at me incredulously.

"Yeah, but I wasn't told exactly where it is. Just somewhere in the Alps, apparently, but hell if I know its exact coordinates."

 _"Ah, well, if everything goes to plan, you won't need to know the exact coordinates."_

"Huh, that right..." I frown back at Da Vinci. "Then how the hell're we supposed to get there in the first place?"

"I know the way there, Master," Matthew reminds me. "That you won't need to worry about, everything has been accounted for."

Everything has been accounted for? The hell's that supposed to mean?

"Then if we're done here, let's head out. Shouldn't overstay our welcome here," I tell everyone a second time.

It's at this moment that the sane Gilles de Rais, the Marshal, steps over towards us with Siegfried and d'Eon and faces me over Artoria and Lily.

"If you will take your leave now, allow me to join you," the Marshal suddenly speaks in fluent English, though like the other French Servants, he speaks with a natural French accent. "My role here is done."

Surprised by this small little turn of events, I turn to Gilles. "But I thought you're the Marshal of the French Army? Are you a Servant?"

"Yes, that is correct," Gilles nods in confirmation. "I had the good fortune to be summoned close to a French Army detachment, and the soldiers recognized me and allowed me to join them as their commander. I have been keeping secret the fact that I am actually a Servant for the past several days in order to lead the army, but now that "

"But I thought that you were still alive in this time period. Otherwise..." I muse slowly, wondering if I should tell this Gilles that we met his insane counterpart before they'd arrived, but Jeanne handles that task for me.

"There was another Gilles, Marshal," Jeanne explains. "A Gilles de Rais who'd given into his despair after he witnessed my death here in this Singularity."

Gilles's face contorts with visible discomfort - understandable, as his situation is quite twisted at the moment.

"Since Servants can only be summoned after they had died in life, I can only assume that in this Singularity, I must have died very recently as well," Gilles figures, rubbing his brow with his gauntleted hand. "No wonder my men were confused about how I was able to find them so fast...it seems that the most likely occurrence was that I had committed suicide after learning of the Saint's death, thus allowing me to be summoned in this form. But why the two of us at the same time...?"

"We think that the Holy Grail chain-summoned more Servants when it was used to summon those Berserk Servants, or the ones whom Jalter here summoned to do her bidding," Jeanne explains. "Which is how we were able to recruit everyone here to help us fight back against the wyverns and retake the city."

Jalter audibly clicks her tongue in annoyance.

"Hm. Then if you're a Servant, we'll take you along," I nod at Gilles, shaking his hand to establish the contract. "Now, for these guys..."

"Wait, Master! You're seriously gonna take _everyone?"_ Tamamo cries out, reaching out and clasping my shoulder to stop me.

"Yeah, why not? We've convinced Martha and d'Eon to our side, I'll give the others a chance too," I reason. "And besides, you've seen what's happened here - we needed everyone here to even have a decent chance of finishing this quickly, and I'm gonna assume that all Singularities in the future are like this.

"But you'll - "

"Lady Tamamo, Lady Da Vinci just said that they have secondary mana reserves that Master can use to help him sustain a large number of Servants," Matthew reminds Tamamo. "He will be fine, he just needs to hold out until we reach the headquarters."

"But _can he_ , is my question!" Tamamo frets out loud, but I don't wait to hear her out as I stride over to the rest of Jalter's Berserk Servants who've been captured and now are being guarded by St. George, Martha, and Mozart of all people to make sure that they won't do any funny business.

"Hi, I'm August, the Master of all these other Servants, but I think you all knew that already," I greet the three remaining Berserk Servants, the Lancer, Sanson, and the Assassin, who I think is the one Elizabeth refers to as Carmilla. They all look like shit, what with getting ganged up by almost fourteen other Servants at some point, I guess, but they don't look like they're about to die with their next step, so that's good. "I'll keep this brief, I'd like to ask if you're interested in joining us. Once we leave this Singularity with the Grail, it'll collapse and disappear, and I don't know what'll happen to you if you stay."

"We do not know what will happen to us if we decide to join you, either," Carmilla frowns at me, though the rest of her facial expression is covered by that weird facemask of hers.

"Oh, if you're worried that you'll disappear or something the moment you leave the Singularity, that shouldn't happen; that Servant over there - " I turn around and point over to Salter. " - she was a Servant we defeated before and convinced to join us in a previous Singularity, so based off her case, I can say that most likely, you'll be fine."

"Hmmm. Being able to continue to exist because we are anchored to an entity that exists in the real world...?" Lancer says calmly in his deep, baritone voice befitting of nobility as he strokes his beard thoughtfully. "How interesting. Being summoned here and simply left to disappear with this Singularity when there is another option available seems rather dull, so I shall accept these terms. It would do you well to also accept them, Assassin."

"Hmph - I know, Lancer. Though, this _does_ mean that I must constantly deal with _that_ brat's incessant immaturity..." Carmilla grumbles. "Then we shall accept this contract."

"Cool. Just a handshake will do, that seems to be enough..."

"Building yourself quite an army, aren't you, Master?" Sanson chortles as our contract is established. "Though, I myself certainly did not foresee a scenario in which I am able to fight alongside both Marie and Wolfgang..."

"Yeah, Mozart told me about your apparent obsession with wanting to cut off Marie's head a second time, so I'd like to ask you _not_ to do that," I frown deeply at Sanson. "Especially not now, now that you're all supposed to be allies."

"Wait, when did you tell him that?" Sanson turns to Mozart inquisitively.

"Sometime after you and that other Berserker attacked us out of the blue after exiting Lyon," Mozart also frowns at Sanson. "It seems that Master is the type of person who does well handling and processing as much relevant information as possible about a battle, so I figured he would appreciate knowing this so that nothing terrible befalls Marie."

"Yeah, don't cut her head off," I ask Sanson begrudgingly, and after a moment, I add, "...again."

"Well, well, now that I have entered a contract with you, Master, you need not worry about Marie any longer. Angering my Master is not what I desire, after all...and now that this Mad Enhancement that clouded by vision has been removed thanks to the contract, I am filled with no such desire."

"Master, I don't know if we should _completely_ trust his word on that...given his background as an executioner, all that death has probably loosened a few screws inside his brain somewhere..." Mozart muses.

"I can _hear_ you, Mozart..." Sanson smiles dangerously at the famous composer, summoning his massive executioner's blade into his hand and resting the tip against the floor, like Salter likes to do with her own Excalibur Morgan.

As Sanson and Mozart start arguing, something hits me, something that I've been meaning to ask Da Vinci or Roman once I had the chance, so I return to Matthew quickly to speak to Da Vinci, whose hologram is still hanging out.

"Da Vinci, I got somethin' to ask you," I say swiftly. "In this Singularity, we killed a few Servants - two at Lyon and one just earlier today."

Jeanne squirms uncomfortably when I mention the death of Atalanta.

"And when we killed them, their bodies didn't disappear like they're supposed to; their corpses just stayed. Why is that? You have any idea why that might be?"

 _"What? Their bodies_ stayed?" Da Vinci both looks and sounds alarmed. _"No, that's - that can NOT be right. They're supposed to disappear - are you sure about this? Maybe it's just taking them a long time to disappear..."_

"Unfortunately, we can confirm that there was in fact a corpse of a former Servant in the battlefield - Lily identified it as the body of Berserk Archer," Artoria tells Da Vinci. "It was still there when we left the battlefield to rendezvous with Master here in the castle."

Da Vinci stays silent for a while, clearly wracking her brain for a possible explanation.

 _"If Servants don't disappear after they're defeated, then...would that mean that they are more than just ethereal beings made of mana...?"_ Da Vinci wonders to herself. _"Even I don't know why that would be the case...are you sure about this?"_

"We've had two separate instances now of Servants not disappearing after they'd been killed," I repeat. "One was Phantom of the Opera, and the second was Atalanta. Both of their bodies stayed after they'd been killed."

 _"I'll have Roman come and help me figure out why this might be. In the meantime, August, just in case, if you don't want to lose any of your Servants in the future, make sure you take extra good care of them,_ si?"

 _"Si, Signora,"_ I reply with my very, very basic Italian. "I'm already feeding the Artoria's four meals a day with snacks included in between, and that won't change."

"M-Must you have mentioned our eating habits _now,_ Master...?" Artoria stammers in embarrassment.

"Well, it's really the only good example that I had at hand..."

"Speaking of eating habits, Master, I wish for you to take me to another one of those 'hamburger' stores again. I can hear them call out to me," Salter mechanically recites.

"I'm fine with that, just wipe that drool off your face first and let's head over to Chaldea."

Salter quickly wipes the drool off the left corner of her mouth with the back of her gauntlet, clearing her throat afterwards as if she doesn't know what I was talking about just now.

"This...this will be an _interesting_ time, to say the least..." Siegfried sighs with a bemused smile. "We shall do everything we can to be of aid in your mission to resolve these Singularities, Master."

"Agreed! Let us march and fight with our Master 'til we can no more!" d'Eon declares loudly, just like a sergeant motivating his squad of soldiers, and most of the Servants in the room also give a short cheer with her.

"As for me, I would _love_ to do more than just march and fight with Master," Kiyohime slyly coos, slinking over to my side just like a graceful snake. "What do you say, Master?"

"K- _Kiyo-chan!_ Master is _mine,_ I'm already his wife, okay!?" Tamamo shouts indignantly. "I thought you weren't fond of stealing away people!"

"Normally I am not, but...ahhhh, Master, you...you're starting to resemble my beloved Anchin-sama of the olden days...as a matter of fact, you just might even _be_ Anchin-sama..." Kiyohime murmurs, and I can start hearing hints of madness seep into her voice.

"Kiyo-chan, no! Bad Kiyo-chan! Snap out of it, your Madness Enhancement's kicking back in again!" Tamamo karate-chops Kiyohime repeatedly over the head, but the latter merely chuckles while holding her sleeved hand over her mouth coyly.

"You forget, Tamamo-san, that my Madness Enhancement is _always_ active ~ "

 _"Even worse! ! !"_

"Master, it seems like your normal daily life is going to be..." Matthew mumbles to me sympathetically, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I know," I roll my eyes slowly as we watch Tamamo and Kiyohime continue to bicker and argue. "Rest in fuckin' pieces..."


	52. Twenty Percent

**A/N:**

 **Konami-kun 2000: hey, someone who points out that my OC's are OP AF but are perfectly willing to keep reading anyway. I like you, come over to my house and have some quartz.**

 **I won't shy away from the fact that I write my OC's to be ridiculously strong. But as I've stated in a recent A/N on another chapter, I don't have the skills of a writer who knows how to write more, uh, "fair" OC's because I find that tedious and boring. That, and I like triggering the people who are silly enough to hate a stupid fanfic for having these Gary Stu's/Mary Sues that they so detest.**

 **The fact that you (and everyone else who follow this fic, for that matter) take it for what it is like I hope my readers would is reassuring, even if it was dumb of me to have that expectation in the first place.**

 **Alewar Warinot: _goddamn it!_**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

After a few last errands that the French Servants undertook to take care of their country, we departed for the French border with Switzerland. Despite knowing that their efforts would probably amount to nothing, the French Servants pleaded with me to let them do as they wished, and I did. If I were a monarch of a country trapped in a Singularity, I would probably do the same thing, even if my efforts in trying to take care of my country would end up doing nothing. I know the feeling of having all my efforts go to waste, anyway. It's never a good feeling, but it's a hell of a lot better than feeling like you didn't do all that you could in that situation. Again, despite knowing that either outcome was ultimately meaningless.

Upon our request upon nearing the Singularity border, Da Vinci relayed our request to Chaldea's president, Olga-Marie Animusphere, to prepare transport for us to bring us into Chaldea's Headquarters in the snowy peaks of the Alps in Southern Switzerland, and Olga responded by sending us a CH-47C Chinook helicopter to come pick us up. The fact that Chaldea has its own private little air fleet still blows my mind - it's not large, mind you, only composed of a handful of pieces of aircraft, but I suppose Olga's father had amassed quite the fortune before his death. At first, I was worried that we'd be seen flying across the country in a helicopter like this, and that the French or Swiss militaries would be notified of an unidentified military helicopter flying across both French and Swiss airspace, but Da Vinci told me not to worry, as the helicopter was already outfitted with magical barriers to allow it to fly without being detected by conventional technological means. Da Vinci knows that I'm a slight military buff - makes sense, considering what she'd done back in her own life.

Though, it was hilarious listening to Jeanne basically shit her pants when she realized that we were flying high up - I still feel bad for thinking that's funny, as phobias are definitely hard to overcome for people. I suppose I just didn't expect a Heroic Spirit like Jeanne to have something like a fear of heights, but to be fair, for someone who's never been inside a helicopter before, let alone flown before, such a reaction isn't unwarranted. Jalter got quite the kick out of it too.

Well, that's all in the past...what, five hours or so? We've since landed at Chaldea, and Da Vinci's leading us into the first lecture hall. And when we enter it, it...doesn't even look like a lecture hall at all.

"...you turned this into a lounge or something or what?" I ask Da Vinci as we file in through the sliding door that's parted upwards for us upon detecting our presence. Everything in the facility is very future-tech-ish, like what you'd find in a sci-fi movie. Given the fact that Olga's father was the one who helped design this facility, I'll go out on a limb and say that he was a science fiction nerd or something.

"Just for today," Da Vinci gives me a playful little grin. "We _do_ have a lot of people here, after all."

"Hey, August! How's it going?" Roman, standing up from one of the sleek white couches, strides over to me and shakes my hand, which I return. For all the shit that we give each other, when we _do_ meet in person, it's always civil, even if I do want to punch him in the face sometimes. "Wow, uh, did you, like, recruit _all_ the enemy Servants you met in the Singularity?"

"Something...like that?" I turn around to review my current roster, which now holds eighteen Servants, including Matthew. "I mean, just letting them go with the Singularity didn't seem logical to me. If Salter was willing to join us, then I figured the others would be. Everyone's been willing so far, so..."

"But you can't expect everyone to be so cooperative. Just a warning, August, though you probably already had that in mind," Da Vinci warns me.

"Yeah, I did." I glance around for the final face that I haven't found yet. "Where's Olga?"

Da Vinci glances down at her watch, a Historiques Triple Calendrier 1942 by Vacheron Constantin. She _loves_ artisan watches - just like how a huge sports car enthusiast goes about pimping out his or her ride with all sorts of mods and customizations, Da Vinci peruses watch magazines, keeps up with all the latest news in the designer watchmaking industry, and is now even teaching herself how to make artisanal watches of her own.

The reason for that was...me, actually. Da Vinci befriended me since Day 1 of my contract work with Chaldea, when I'd visited this place for the first time. At the time, I'd arrived fresh off completing a contract with another client, who'd paid me by giving me one of his most prized watches, a Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4. Since I'm not very familiar with watches, and because that particular piece of contract work wasn't at all difficult for me, I was a little dumbfounded at what to do with it, and I didn't feel like just selling it off since that seemed like a shitty thing to do. So I carried it with me when I came to visit Chaldea for the first time, and upon meeting Da Vinci, I figured she'd be able to appreciate it far more than I could and just passed it off to her.

Oh boy, what I monster I created. Well, that's obviously exaggerating things, but I think you get the point. If there are any artisanal watchmakers who go out of business because of Da Vinci, I hope they don't come marching up to my door and start demanding reparations for indirectly ruining their businesses.

"She should be here in...two hundred and eighteen seconds," Da Vinci proudly announces.

"No, uh, I...don't think you needed to calculate something like that so _exactly_..." I bluntly mutter.

"Oh, Senpai? You and Lady Da Vinci seem to be on quite good terms..." Matthew notes, joining us now. She's switched to her civvies ever since we boarded the chopper.

 _"Si, si!_ August is quite the gentleman and the scholar. Roman could do well taking a few hints from him!" Da Vinci laughs heartily.

"Heyyy, that's a bit underhanded..." Roman groans.

"Senpai, I didn't know you knew Lady Da Vinci that well. When did you get to know her?" Matthew asks, letting her curiosity dictate her words.

"Ah, that was back when I first joined Chaldea as a contractual mage," I start explaining. "I bumped into Da Vinci after I spoke with Olga and was heading to the main lounge to wait for Olga's decision on my acceptance, and I gave her this watch that I had on me."

"Ooooh, so is _that_ why Lady Da Vinci's been making watches sometimes as a hobby?" Matthew gasps lightly, as if she's finally found the answer to a question that's been bugging her for quite some time.

 _"Si, si!_ Agosto enabled my watch hobby with a gift of used goods!" Da Vinci nods heartily, and she reaches over to me and pulls me in for a glomp.

"They weren't 'used goods', technically," I sigh, feeling her breasts wrap around my twig of a left arm. "I told you, that watch I gave you last year was payment from one of my private clients, and he didn't have money on him at the time, so he gave me that one and said it was alright for me to resell it."

"But you didn't, and you gave it to me," Da Vinci tilts her head back up at me.

"Well, yeah, 'cause I didn't really feel like reselling something like that."

"Huh!? August, the businessman-mage, feeling bad about reselling something?! Man, people sure do change in a year!" Roman exclaims out loud, which earns him a small little Reigun burst from the tip of my right index finger that hits him in the forehead with about the same power as a flick of a finger. "Owie!"

"Ah! M-Master, _what are you doing?!"_

All four of us glance over to the foxy voice being directed at us, and Tamamo comes flying over the couch that's in her way and glues herself to my other arm.

"This is _my_ husband! I won't let another woman hold you like I do!" Tamamo indignantly pouts, frowning deeply at Da Vinci on the other side.

"Oh, _scusa, scusa,"_ Da Vinci giggles charmingly, letting go of my arm. "I didn't know you already committed to a relationship, August. I'll agree with Roman there, people sure do change - you said it was unlikely for you to ever get into a relationship, didn't you? Around last year."

"Well, that's inaccurate too, she just acted like this from the get-go," I point at Tamamo.

"Ah! Master, you're calling our relationship i-inaccurate!?" Tamamo squeals in horror, reeling with the shock. "Oh, oh no - Tamamo is _SHOCKED - !"_

Dramatically letting go of my own arm, she raises her hand over her forehead as if she'll faint. I just give her a bit of a blank look before glancing at the rest of the Servants now either seated in the couches or talking with each other around the lecture hall-turned-lounge. Vlad is sitting next to Carmilla conversing politely with her on one of the couches, Salter is poking Jalter in the side and irritating her while Artoria and Lily both look on with rather concerned looks, St. George, Siegfried, and Martha are all having a chat standing, Marie is fixing Jeanne's big braid on another couch, Elizabeth and Kiyohime are bantering between themselves like usual, and so are Mozart and Sanson on the same couch as Jeanne and Marie.

"So, how'd you feel about this Singularity, August?" Roman asks me, having fetched a cup of coffee from the coffee table nearby and sipping on it occasionally. I notice he hasn't put anything in and is just drinking it straight.

"It got resolved way faster than I thought it would," I nod to myself slowly, contemplating the experience in review. "It only took two days and a night to get through everything. I figured something on that scale, it would take us way longer, but having all these Servants come join us really saved us."

"But it did take a toll on your mana management, didn't it?" Da Vinci points out for me.

"Yeah, it did; I didn't expect to end up with so many Servants - having to try to manage with all of them consuming mana from me _and_ fight with what I had left over really screwed me. It even almost killed me, too."

"Killed you?" Roman asks, definitely looking alarmed at this.

"Yeah. Jeanne and I chased after Jalter to the Orleans castle and faced her there, but she hit me with her Noble Phantasm and almost killed me." I point at the hole on the front of my shirt.

"Almost?" Roman asks, confused. "Your clothes are a bit scorched, yeah, but - almost killed you?"

"Yeah. As in, I got fuckin' stabbed through the chest right here."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, uh, then that would've killed you, yes." Roman hastily clears his throat.

"But Jeanne gave me some healing, and then Tamamo patched up the rest."

Tamamo, hearing herself mentioned again, bounds back to life, nodding strongly while her tail and her ears also bob back and forth in agreement.

"Because I'm Master's faithful wife, after all, mikon ~ " she sings as the door behind us shwoops up to let in another visitor. Da Vinci and Roman both glance over at the door to see who it is.

"And here comes the boss," Roman sighs with a small little grin, knocking back the rest of his coffee and turning around to go set the cup aside as Olga strides through the room to meet with me.

"Hello, Mr. Il," Olga greets me professionally. I always forget that she's almost as tall as me, which says a lot seeing that all the female Servants here are noticeably shorter than us two, Matthew included. "Good work on the past two Singularities so far. It seems you've put together quite a task for - "

"Where's my paycheck, Olga?" I ask her quietly and with a nice little professional smile of my own.

Olga freezes, as if she'd completely forgotten that the first thing that would come out of my mouth would be about past four paychecks that she's failed to give me due to "internal budget refinancing", whatever the fuck that meant.

"N-Now, now, August, couldn't you, um, save that for maybe another time? Right now, you see..." Da Vinci tries to intervene, gesturing to the other Servants behind us.

So I nod quickly. "Sure, we can leave it for later. But I ain't leavin' 'til she at least lets me know when I can expect my money," I declare, professionally as always. "And, Olga, you didn't by chance _forget_ about it, did you?"

"W-What do you mean, of _course_ I knew about it - "

"Then why did you seem so surprised when I mentioned it just now?"

Olga straight up ignores me as she turns to my Servants while I'm still in the middle of talking and claps her hands a few times.

"Alllllright, may I have everyone's attention please!" she calls to everyone in the room, and the Servants all stop what they're doing to pay attention - well, most of them, anyway, Mozart and Sanson are still bickering, though they lower their voices to continue doing so. "Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Olga-Marie Animusphere of the Animusphere family, and I am the Head Director of the Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, Finis Chaldea, or simply Chaldea for short."

"If you wanna piss her off, call her Olgamally," I call bluntly from behind her over her shoulder.

Olga swiftly turns around and throws her right fist at me, but expecting retaliation, I'm a step ahead of her and parry her punch with my palm, not flinching at the impact.

"Have you been working out, Olga?" I ask her, and Olga again responds with another punch, which I parry again. "Your punches got stronger."

"Oh, yeah, she even built herself a gym in the North Ward. She kept going on about how she'd beat the crap out of you one day!" Roman informs us cheerfully and innocently, but that earns him a light Gandr shot to the head that knocks him flat on his back.

"Ahem! So, where did I leave off..." Olga coughs to clear her throat unnecessarily loudly as I saunter over to one of the couches facing Olga and take a seat, with Tamamo joining me, naturally. Fou hops up to my lap as Matthew sits down with me as well on the other side. "Ah, right, Chaldea. This facility that you have been brought to is called Chaldea, and it is our main facility to house mages who have trained with the Chaldea organization and are tasked with helping preserve the Human Order and everything that the task encompasses. We used to have our main facility down in Antarctica, but due to financial reasons we moved it here to Switzerland."

"In other words, she didn't want to go broke," I remark sarcastically, "but she did anyway."

"Quiet, you!" Olga hisses at me. "Anyways! I have been informed by Miss Da Vinci and Dr. Roman that August, who is our primary contractual mage who has been tasked with resolving these Singularities that we have set out to remove as threats to the Human Order, has recruited many more Servants from the Singularities themselves, and it's quite apparent that that is most certainly the case. Therefore, I've authorized the use of our secondary mana stores for use by you Servants who have established contracts with Mr. Il. Those secondary mana pools are being activated as we speak, and it will be about another hour before they are fully operational, so I ask that you all stay awhile while the mana pools reach nominal levels of operation."

"Also, in regards to the issue of housing..." Da Vinci also mentions, stepping up next to Olga. It still blows my mind how Olga is actually taller than Da Vinci - not exactly the mental image I had in mind. "Currently Mr. Il's place of residence is not suited well enough to accommodate, uh..." Da Vinci quickly counts everyone in the room, except for herself, Olga, and Roman, of course. "Eighteen people, so we have prepared this facility to house the Servants who cannot be accommodated in Mr. Il's own residence."

"Also, I was never told that I needed to accommodate _anyone_ in that letter you sent me, Olga," I frown in annoyance over to Olga, who very conveniently avoids my irritated gaze.

"Well, well, it's - it's no problem _now_ , right?" Da Vinci points out with an awkward smile, clasping her hands together.

"Still wish I was at least _told_ about it."

"We got space here for everyone now, though," Roman groans, getting back up and rubbing his forehead from Olga's Gandr shot. "Don't worry, we've got plenty of space here, so you're free to recruit as many more Servants as you want from the Singularities you go to, August."

I nod. "Thanks."

"Um, excuse me, but where does...where does Master live? Where is his place of residence?" Jeanne asks, somewhat shyly.

"Yes, that is a good point. Master gave an implication during the Singularity that he and a few other Servants had traveled _into_ the country of France in order to come resolve the Singularity itself; that would, in turn, imply that he is not a local," Kiyohime speaks softly, but her voice travels through the air just like the hissing of a snake, so everyone can hear her clearly anyway despite her small and subdued voice. "Master, where do you live?"

Somehow, that sounds a bit weird coming from her.

"I live in America," I tell her. "The other side of the world from here. So that would then beg the question of - "

"How do we go back!?" Tamamo cries in alarm.

"Calm down, we can always just take another flight over," I remind her. "We're not going to fly across the pond on your mirrors again."

Tamamo sighs with relief. "Oh, okay, good, I thought I'd have to keep using even more of your mana - "

 _"No, you don't have to worry about that."_ I look back at the Chaldea employees. "Actually, speaking of which, you know what happened to our luggage? What happened to the plane we were in?"

"Ah, the plane landed no problem. Olga contacted the airline herself and had your suitcase picked up for you; we've got it in Da Vinci's room, I think, right?" Roman asks Da Vinci, who nods. "Yeah, she's got it. You can pick it up once you head back home."

"Lady Da Vinci, then if we are to establish two points of residence for Senpai and us Servants, how are we to communicate and rendezvous?" Matthew asks.

Da Vinci beams as she throws on her glasses - whenever she slaps on her glasses, it means she's about to go off on another tangent of how she's so fucking smart. Which she _is_ , mind you, she's Leonardo motherfucking da Vinci.

"I'm glad you asked, Matteo!" she exclaims, and she whips out a little cube-like device that immediately reminds me of the Companion Cube, minus any hearts on it. "I have created this teleportation device that will permanently connect Chaldea to Mr. Il's home! With this, both Servant and Master alike can traverse between these two locations freely whenever they choose!"

"Oh, so I get to walk in here whenever I want and bother Olga for my paychecks that she still hasn't gotten me!" I smile, clapping my hands lightly in excitement as Olga, balking at this notion too the moment Da Vinci announced her new invention, seizes Da Vinci by the collar and starts shaking her back and forth.

"Oh _come on,_ Da Vinci, why the heck did you make something like that?!" Olga screeches lightly.

"Ah, well, Olga, at some point you can't run away from your responsibilities ~ " Da Vinci coos with a dumb smile on her face as she lets herself get tussled back and forth by Olga's hands.

As those two are fooling around for a bit, a blue hologram panel of my own pops up in front of me, buzzing at me just like a phone on silent mode. I glance at it, and so do Tamamo and Matthew next to me, who both notice it swiftly as it's right in their cones of view.

Jacob Vurtans-Quintana.

My eyes narrow dangerously. This fucking bastard...speaking of missing paychecks.

I get up immediately from my seat answer it - I have ENIAC set up to receive calls that my office phone or my smartphone receive using satellite data so that my phones can forward the calls they get to me no matter where I am in the world (it obviously doesn't work if I'm inside a Singularity). I tap the hologram and start speaking.

"Hm? August, where are you - " Roman starts to ask, getting Da Vinci's and Olga's attention.

"'Sup, dipshit, where's my money?"

I say this a bit louder than I needed to, admittedly, because the moment I say this, the Servants around me all glance over at me to see what's going on. I ignore them and continue heading for the door to step outside, because I know this might get a bit loud.

 _"What do you mean, where's your money? Where's_ MY _money, you fucking chink!?"_ Jacob yells back; being half Mexican and having grown up with his mother's side of the family who is Mexican, he naturally has a Latino accent. His voice only plays in my ear, through a small rune that hovers over my right ear that's formed as soon as I tapped the hologram to pick up the call. _"I fuckin' waste_ my _time to call your ass when I should be at the club right now with my_ _cabrónes! You know what time it is right now? Huh? What, your small little chink eyes can't look out the fuckin' window to see what time it is?"  
_

"You're going on about a payment that I already paid you seven months ago and I sent you the proof of payment three times a month for? And I don't give a flying fuck about your cabrones or your club, 'cause what I _do_ give a flying fuck about is the money you owe me for your shipment that I brought in three weeks ago and that you didn't fuckin' pay for, motherfucker," I growl back, exiting the hall and standing outside in the corridor.

 _"And I keep telling your bitch ass that I already gave you the money for that shit, homie!"_ Jacob snarls back. I can hear club music blasting in the background, so that's awfully nice of him. _"It ain't my fault you didn't get the check! Go fuckin' check with the post office or somethin'!"_

"I already did. I checked with the post office seven fucking times already, and three of those times I went to the damn post office myself. I even checked with your fucking bank, my dude, and you ain't cashed shit! Gave 'em the check number you gave me, they said they'd never gotten a check with that number! What, you gonna tell me you gave me the wrong fucking check number now?"

I feel some anger start pumping into my voice, and I let it ferment.

"Hey, tell you what, _puto_ , you send me that check _properly_ this time, or I go take the file I got on your shipment and take it to the customs office and tell 'em that you've got a thousand kilos of crack and powdered cocaine gettin' shipped into this country every fucking month."

 _"¡Mira qué cabrón! I always paid you, why you gotta be like this, homie?!"_ Jacob shouts back furiously. _"I always pay you, you and your worthless fucking little company or whatever! Your papa was nice to my papa, you know!? Why it gotta be like this, man?"_

"You didn't pay me this time, motherfucker. Hell, you've _always_ paid your shit late, and this time you straight up didn't pay shit. And the only reason why my dad worked with yours was 'cause he didn't know he was importing contraband into the country."

 _"Then why are you!?"_

"Family obligations. 'Cause 'my dad was nice to your dad', as you said. Sons do as the fathers tell 'em. You call me a chink and don't know that, cabron? Tell ya what, I'll let you pay twenty percent. Twenty percent, by next Tuesday. I know you'll be snortin' coke all weekend and passed the fuck out on Sunday, so I'll give you Monday _and_ Tuesday to get me twenty percent in my bank account."

 _"That a threat, you motherfucker? Listen, I know where you live, and you know I run my town, you think you can just there sit there and tell me this shit and expect to get away with it, fucking piece of - "_

"Yeah, I do. You're a fucking lazy piece of shit and you won't do jack, so fuck you. Twenty percent, Jacob. I'm waiting."

" _No mames - "_

I cut the call. Rubbing my forehead in deep-rooted irritation, I tap through ENIAC's HUD to make another call, and the call hologram hums with the familiar dialing tone before someone picks up.

 _"'ey, wassup, Aug, what'cha need?"_

A deep voice greets me cheerfully on the other end, like he's straight outta Compton.

"Kells, I need you to get me Jacob's current residence. Jacob Vurtans-Quintana."

 _"Ah, Coke Cabron? Hahaha...ye, I got'cha, Sammy got a few friends in his crew, I'll have him let'cha know."_

"Tell him to send it to me through text, kinna busy at the moment. If Sammy wants to charge me, I'll pay him whatever."

 _"You got it, chief."_

"Thanks, Kells."

I cut the call as I turn around to head back inside the hall again, and the door slides up to let me back in. I stride across the room and seat myself back down in between Matthew and Tamamo.

"Sorry about that, just a call from a friend," I smile quickly, glancing back up at Da Vinci and Olga. "Continue?"

I already know that they've been eavesdropping on my call through the wall, as evidenced by the remnants of the rune in Olga's left hand.


	53. Edge

Still sitting on the couches, Tamamo, Kiyohime, Jeanne, and Jalter are all watching me type rapidly on a rune keyboard that I'm using to reply to the giant mass of emails in my work email account. Tamamo is holding a cup of lukewarm oolong tea that Matthew brought me when she saw that I was working, since the couches don't have cupholders and there are no tables in sight - if the room had been switched back to being a lecture hall, then it would be a different story, but right now we don't have that luxury.

"Master is very diligent..." Jeanne murmurs, watching me work like this is the most intriguing thing she's ever seen.

"I don't get it, what the hell are you even doing?" Jalter grumbles. She gestures at the main hologram panel that displays my email like a computer monitor.

"Work," I mutter quickly, my eyes proofreading my keys as I type out another email reply swiftly before sending it off and moving onto the next email. I'm leaving emails that have attachments that I need to print out when I get home untouched so that I know to go through them later in my office.

"Ah, this is the business that you were talking about earlier?" Jeanne asks, remembering my mention of my business stuff.

"Yeah. There's always work, so just because I'm away from home doesn't mean I get to slack off."

"You should take a break, Master, you've been at this for the past hour already," Tamamo mumbles worriedly, offering my cup of oolong tea back to me. "At least, please finish your tea..."

So I take the cup of oolong tea from her, down everything in one go, and set it down on my lap so that Tamamo doesn't have to hold it for me anymore.

"It's only been an hour, and you're telling me to take a break?" I give Tamamo a slight smirk. "But thanks for your concern. I'll be fine, though."

"Just how long are you gonna be at that, though?" Jalter continues to grumble as she lifts her right leg up over the opposite knee.

"Why, what's it to you? Are you bored?"

"Tch, yeah! There's nothing to do, we're just waiting for Da Vinci and the others to set up that portal back to your place!" Jalter sighs exasperatedly.

"We already talked about this; if you wanna stay here 'cause you hate me that much, you're more than welcome to," I reply back calmly, still concentrating on my work as I tap the next email to look at, this time an email from one of my agents in Malaysia who sends me shipments from the Southeast Asian region concerning details of a new shipment that'll get sent out within the week. Today is Sunday, April 30th, as we've spent two days in the Singularity - usually the weekends mean a break from work, since shipping companies like the one I run usually don't work on weekends, partly because the trucking companies that deliver containers and such don't work weekends and lots of utilities and services that the ports offer are also unavailable during the weekends, so it's like, why even bother working on weekends.

"It's not _that_ , you idiot," Jalter growls.

"...Jalter, please, he is our Master," Jeanne berates her alter ego lightly. Ever since Jalter reluctantly agreed to join us, Jeanne's silently taken it upon herself to keep an eye on Jalter, as if Jalter's supposed to be her rebellious younger sister or something; at least, that's the feeling I get whenever I see the two of them interact. If Jalter wasn't a dragon-summoning mass murderer, their interaction is actually fairly cute, with Jalter constantly trying to shrug Jeanne off her. I suspect that if she had her way, Jalter would leap at the chance to just off Jeanne just so that she won't ever have to deal with Jeanne's preaching sometimes. And they've only barely known each other for a day so far.

Jalter sneers grumpily in response, refusing to make eye contact with Jeanne.

"What is it, Jalter?" Salter asks quietly, having left her seat next to Jalter briefly to fetch herself a cup of oolong tea for herself and a handful of chocolate French macarons. She sits back down next to her with her loot and proceeds to dig in. "Why the long face?"

"Tch. What's it to _you?"_ Jalter scowls back at Salter.

"More than you think. For one, seeing you agitated brings me a small comfort," Salter explains briefly, unwrapping a macaron, since they're individually packaged, and biting into it. Mind you, none of the Servants are currently wearing their armor at the moment, or at the very least, they've magically shed the heavier parts of their armor.

"I'll fucking burn you," Jalter snaps back, with flames hissing into view from her left hand.

"'Ay, you two, play nice," I snap at them, my hands still thudding silently against the magical keys of my rune keyboard.

"Indeed. Listen to your new Master, Jalter," Salter gives Jalter quite the smug little grin. "He defeated you, did he not?"

"Hmph! If he's your Master too, that must mean he defeated you too, sometime before this," Jalter fires back, turning away from Salter and crossing her arms to lean against the back of the couch.

"No, that's inaccurate. I didn't beat her, Lily, Matthew, and Artoria did," I correct Jalter, still focusing on my work while I talk. Years of reading and typing out emails while talking to people on the phone is to blame for my ability to multi-task in this particular regard. "I just helped out a little."

"Being humble will get you nowhere, Master," Salter remarks before she fills her mouth with macaron again.

"And neither will twisting the truth."

"But you _are_ twisting the truth."

"I don't think I am. Compared to the amount of work that Lily and Artoria put in to fight you back then, whatever I did to help wasn't nearly as impactful."

"Ah, so you say that saving Lily's life was not impactful?"

"I never said that _nothing_ I did was impactful, I only said my efforts weren't nearly as impactful. Let's just put it this way, I wasn't the one who dealt you the final attack to beat you, mkay?"

Salter snorts quietly, shrugging. "Do you see this, Jalter? This is your Master, a Master who refuses to recognize the importance of his actions."

"Again, inaccurate. It's not that, I just don't see the point in bragging about it."

"Oh, Master, you don't have to be so reserved ~ you should be more outspoken, more brazen, more forceful ~ !" Tamamo sings, her bushy tail wagging back and forth.

"Nay, Master, I prefer you as you are now. Quiet and reserved, yet powerful and strong when the situation calls for it - that is how it should be," Kiyohime coos, her soft, hiss-like voice snaking into my other ear on the opposite side of Tamamo. "Permit not this impolite fox to sway your behavior in the other direction."

"Oi, Kiyo-chan, you don't _actually_ plan on getting in the way of me and Master...?" Tamamo, dropping the pitch of her voice without warning, narrows her eyes past me at Kiyohime, who returns the gaze with a sharp, beady-eyed glare of her own.

"And who are you to stop me?" Kiyohime replies in what can only be described as a whisper. "I have come to the conclusion that Master is perfectly suited to be my husband as well."

"No, that's just your Madness Enhancement talking! And besides, _I_ came to him _first!_ He summoned _me_ first! He didn't even summon _you!"_ Tamamo sulks indignantly before she leans over and hugs my left arm. "Master, Master, you - you won't possibly let that snake woman come and steal you away from me, would you?"

Why are we talking about this again?

"I'm not exactly in a position to be a bachelor," I sigh a little, sending another email off, this time to one of the trucking companies I work with in the Chicago area. "And I'm still in the middle of work, so I'd like to ask you two to calm it down a little, at least until I'm done with this."

"A-And how long is your work going to take? You're _always_ working, it seems like!" Tamamo exclaims. "Are...are humans these days always so busy...?"

That last comment from Tamamo makes me smirk darkly. "Welcome to the modern world, Tamamo," I turn to her and give her a polite, professional smile, "where they say time is money. And from my personal experience, they're absolutely right."

And with that, I open another email, though I notice I'm almost done with the ones that need my immediate attention.

"Waaaaahhh! Master's a workaholiiiiiiiic!" Tamamo cries out, sounding utterly devastated by this revelation. "Kiyo-chan, we've gotta save him! He's gonna work himself to death!"

"Workaholic? Nay, I see that he knows what it means to be committed to his work. Now, if only he could show such commitment to the woman of his choice..." Kiyohime giggles softly, enticingly. "...which would be me, of course. Ufufufu ~ "

 _"Again, don't try to steal him away from meeeee! ! !"_

Simply scoffing back at Tamamo, Kiyohime scoots in closer and rests her head against the side of my right shoulder, while Tamamo, unwilling to give up any ground on this battlefield, squeezes my left arm even deeper into her chest. I didn't ask for this...

Speaking of which, weren't Kiyohime and Tamamo supposed to be friends? But I guess when it comes to their Master, their friendship hardly lasts...so _this_ is the kind of situation that's developing? Ah, I think I can feel the regrets start to seep in...

"Hey, Master," Jalter calls over to me. I get the feeling she's only trying to start up a conversation because she can't stand all this flirting by Tamamo and Kiyohime.

"Mhm."

"How the hell did you even survive my Noble Phantasm back then? In the throne room of the castle?" Jalter asks suspiciously. "You're supposed to be a normal human, right? Normal people can't survive that."

"I told you, I survived 'cause I didn't feel like your flames were all that strong," I shrug. "My sense of how strong different types of fire are is a bit...different."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, you felt like my flames were strong enough, whatever. But you got stabbed, didn't you? You had a hole in your shirt when you came back. How did you heal that fast? Normal Masters don't just get hurt like that and then just walk it off like it's nothing!"

"Oh, you're talking about _that_." I shrug again. "I dunno...getting stabbed like that gets kinda dull after a while."

"After a...while? What do you - "

"That's not the first time I've had a spear or a knife go through me like that." I hit the enter button to send my final email and close the holograms around me to look back up at Jalter. "Wasn't the first time, and I doubt it'll be the last."

"But how you did you even heal that fast? Servants can't even heal like that unless they know healing magic!"

"Well, I have a bit of healing magic of my own. It's more magical surgery techniques, but it's still regenerative magic. If I apply my flames to them, then it speeds up the process. That's all there is to it, really."

"But - " Jalter groans aloud, shaking her head and facepalming. "Salter, I think you're right, there's a lot this guy's hiding..."

"I'm not hiding anything," I shrug a third time in a row.

"Then tell me why you didn't die!" Jalter starts raising her voice, but she's done that many times already.

"Jalter, your voice, please..." Jeanne reminds her quietly. She's starting to sound like a timid mother who's trying to rein in her boisterous child.

"I guess maybe you underestimated humans a little too much. They're a bit stronger than you think," I retort, folding my arms slowly back at Jalter. "But I guess that just goes without saying, considering the fact that you attempted ethnic genocide against your own people."

Jalter starts grinding her teeth. I'm getting under her skin, and the inner sadist in me is starting to smile, though I don't let that show.

"Fine, I see how you're playing this," Jalter folds her arms back at me, as if that's her form of retaliation. "Then what kind of magic are you using to produce your power? Those flames, I mean!"

"Um...I would actually like to know about that as well," Jeanne slowly raises her hand like a model student in class. "We had seen you use explosion magic in battle several times, but...nothing to the extent of what you used in the battle against her. Have you been using that kind of magic all your life?"

Tamamo gasps. "Master knows how to use flames!? But why is this the first time I'm hearing about this!? Master, please explain yourself!" Caster gives me quite the passionate pout. "I could teach you a thing or two about using flames!"

"Flames, you say...? Even better, even better..." Kiyohime adds on, raising her fan up to her lips to cover them. "I see that our compatibility is continuing to grow. Good, good, ufufufu..."

"Hey, back off, Kiyo-chan, I told you already that he's _mine!"_ Tamamo makes sure to snap back at her friend.

It's a bit hard for me to keep up with these two, admittedly. Not that I want to tell them to shut up, either.

"My magic's always taken the form of fire ever since I started learning it and using it," I explain. I unfold my arms to extend out my fingerless-gloved left hand a bit and set it ablaze with a potent amount of fire that crackles and snaps like a campfire. At the sight of this, the Servants around me, to varying degrees, all marvel at it. "Makes sense, I've always liked the look and aesthetic of fire and how destructive it can be, so I'm glad it turned out this way. But I don't really use it in its form like this if I can help it - for me, personally, because I use a system of magic that allows even normal human beings to wield powers like this, it's very mana-inefficient, and it burns me out a lot faster than if I were to fight normally, no pun intended."

"Burns you out? But Master, you fought for two days straight - " Tamamo blurts out, but I cut her off swiftly.

"And you say that like it's an accomplishment," I smirk a little.

" - _while supplying fourteen Servants in the process!"_ Tamamo talks right back over me, not giving a shit. "It's like you don't burn out!"

"Hey, that's not true, I was close to after I was done with Jalter and the evil Gilles," I frown a little too. "I didn't beat Jalter, she could'a easily come over and chopped my head off. Well, no, actually, Jeanne was still there, so I guess she could've bought me some time..."

I glance back at the Jeanne duo, particularly at Jalter, who, having been staring back at me, naturally notices that I'm giving her my gaze.

"...what do you want? Just spit it out if you've got something to say," Jalter hisses back. It's not quite as nice as Kiyohime's hisses, but I guess I'll take what I can get.

Something is off about Jalter. As I brought up during my fight with her back in Orleans, Jalter's flames didn't feel...authentic. When her flames engulfed me, I expected them to hurt a lot more, but they didn't. As I'd mentioned to her, to put it in perspective, her flames hurt as much as a kid throwing a tantrum and flailing his or her fists around and punching you with them, when I was expecting them to hit me like a ton of bricks. For someone like Jalter with enough power to use a Noble Phantasm like that, why did her flames do so little? In fact, the stake that stabbed me through the lung did more damage to me than the flames themselves did, when in reality I get the feeling that Jalter intended for the other way around to be the case. The conclusion that I formed was that there's something about Jalter that isn't authentic, namely her feelings and her memories that she would need to attach to her power to give it the strength that it needed to kill me - either that, or she simply has none of it. But the latter's not true either; she definitely _does_ have those feelings, but I guess they aren't strong enough, and the only reason that I think might explain this is because Jalter herself might not be a true "Servant". And I have the evil Gilles' reactions to support this hypothesis, too.

"I wanna ask, but...are you a real Servant?" I ask Jalter.

At this, Jalter first balks, and then she leaps up to her feet and draws her black sword swiftly and points it at me. At this, both Kiyohime and Tamamo also pounce off the couch on either side of me and toss out their items before me to shield me, Tamamo with one of her big magic mirrors and Kiyohime with her sturdy war fan.

I wish they didn't do that, because Jalter's sword is actually very lovely to look at. Despite not being adept with most melee weapons like swords or spears due to my preference for guns, firearms, and ranged weapons, I can appreciate the beauty of any weapon, melee or ranged.

 **"What do you mean, am I real?"** Jalter seethes. **"We even made a contract. What further proof do you need to know that I am real?"**

Looks like that question triggered her quite a bit.

"I'd like to take your word for it, true, but..." I calmly take off my glasses to breathe on the lenses to wipe them with the bottom of my shirt. "...I think I brought this up earlier when we fought, but you claim to be the alternative form of Jeanne d'Arc. For example, your friend Salter - "

 **"She's not my friend!"**

Salter snickers on the couch behind Jalter, eating her final macaron.

"Okay, my bad then, Salter over there, for example, is the alternative form of Artoria Pendragon," I correct myself with a lazy wave of my hand. "Hence why we call her Salter, or 'Saber Alter' for short, and why we call you 'Jalter', or 'Jeanne Alter' for short. The alter form of a Servant, from what little I've studied and researched, is supposed to embody the dark side of that Servant. Their darker qualities, if you will. You certainly appear to harbor Jeanne's dark side. But do you really?"

Jalter keeps her sword steady, aimed at my neck through Tamamo's mirror.

"You dare call my hatred for France fake?" Jalter boils.

"Not that, that's real, I can already tell," I wave my hand again a little. "But take it one step further, I wanna know if your _reasons_ for your hatred are real."

"My reasons...?"

"Jeanne asked you if you remember your family," I nod over at Jeanne, who's also stood up with Tamamo and Kiyohime and Jalter when the latter pulled her sword on me. "But you didn't give a decisive answer. Or, in other words, you didn't say yes. Which means we can only assume that you don't remember."

Jalter's hand on her sword is trembling, also causing her sword to shake.

"So then let's ask Salter over here." I lean a little to my right to get a better look at Salter. "Salter, you have all the memories that your other self has, right? The normal Artoria Pendragon."

Salter nods. "Aye, that is correct. Everything that she knows in her life - as her Alter form, I possess knowledge of myself."

"So if Salter knows, why don't you know?" I question Jalter. "Servants don't lose their memories of their real lives at all, even if they get summoned in whatever alternate versions of themselves, or at least that's what I know, unless I've been intentionally misled. But you don't?"

 _ **"AND SO WHAT IF I DON'T?!"**_

Jalter finally explodes like a bomb whose fuse has been lit, with a very short fuse at that. Her gigantic roar slams the walls of the lounge, which, as a lecture hall, has been designed to have very good acoustics so that voices can travel easily without the use of a microphone, so Jalter roaring like this is even louder than it really is. Naturally, everyone else in the room who'd been chatting away get silenced, and all attention is drawn to Jalter like she's got a taunt skill or something.

"Nothing," I say simply, wiping away a speck or two of spit off my face that Jalter's flung at me when she yelled. "I just wanted to know."

At first, Jalter simply stares at me in pure and utter disbelief, like she was expecting me to say something more impactful. But once the realization sinks in that I only drove her to the edge like this simply for the knowledge of it all, Jalter turns, hurls her sword at the side wall near the refreshments table, causing her sword to spike into the wall and blow out a massive chunk of it in a fireball of an explosion, and stomps out of the hall and leaves.

"Olga's gonna charge me for that," I sigh heavily, inspecting the damage that Jalter's done to the wall as several concerned Servants hurry over to us. "Goddamn it."

"Master, what was the problem? Why did Mademoiselle Jalter do that?" Gilles (the sane one) asks quickly, naturally alarmed by this display of outward anger by Jalter.

"And _I_ thought _I_ could act like a bitch sometimes..." Elizabeth remarks, snorting at the crater in the wall that Jalter's sword, still embedded in the wall itself, mind you, has gouged out.

"But that is a given, no?" Kiyohime smiles over at Elizabeth.

 _"I didn't need YOU to tell me that, you annoying Japanese squirrel!"_

"It's fine, I was the one who made her do that," I shake my head to reassure the Servants who've come over to investigate.

"But was that wise, Master?" Salter asks. Having finished all her macarons, she now sips on her oolong tea to wash them all down. "Pushing her that far. You may have noticed, but she is quite the sensitive little girl."

"It was gonna happen sooner or later. I'd rather have that kind of conversation now, when we can afford to have it, rather than later when it might come up at a really inconvenient time, like, in the middle of a battle, for example," I roll my eyes a little. "And besides, don't lie, you liked seeing her get pissed off, didn't you?"

"Ah, it seems you know me a bit better, then," Salter gives me a wry, evil little smile.

"Well, it was obvious just watching you talk to her."

"Master, um, about this, er, predicament..."

I turn to Jeanne, who's spoken up again in her quiet, delicate voice.

"I think that...your suspicions about Jalter not being a true Servant in the traditional sense like the rest of us are correct," Jeanne elaborates.

"So you agree, then?" I ask.

"Yes. Although Jalter may be very angry if she comes to know that I share your sentiment about this matter..."

"I'll keep her in check. I was the one who keeps bugging her about this, so I'll take it upon myself to make sure she doesn't do anything to you."

"Er, you...you don't need to go that far, but..." Jeanne clears her throat quickly. "The truth is that...I have no such hatred for my country, for France. Yes, my death may have ultimately been a result of the machinations of my own countrymen, but at the time of my death, I did not resent my country or my people for how my death came about. So as a Servant, I still harbor no such intentions."

Tamamo gazes at Jeanne with narrowed eyes, I notice. But as soon as Tamamo notices me gazing at her for a moment, she snaps out of it and puts on a more cheerful facade. Interesting.

"Hm. So because you don't have any desire to destroy your own country, Jalter shouldn't have had any to begin with...?" I speculate.

"It is more accurate to say that Jalter should not even exist," Salter inputs. "If Jeanne d'Arc is speaking the truth, that she in fact harbors no such desire to lay waste to her own country, then an alternate Jeanne d'Arc who does harbor those intentions cannot exist to begin with. For an alternate form of a Servant to exist, the original Servant must already harbor some degree of the traits that appear dominant in the alternate form, traits that the original Servant is actively trying to suppress or keep locked away in the depths of their minds or hearts."

"Like multiplying something with zero," I ponder. "No matter what you do, you still get zero..."

Jeanne winces when I mention multiplying. Does she not like math?

Er, well, as a poor farm girl in medieval France, I suppose it makes sense...she probably never had any knowledge of mathematics. Though I'm surprised she even knows what it is, then.

"I am able to testify on behalf of Mademoiselle Jeanne that she in fact loved her country and would never wish to see it destroyed, especially not by her own hand," Gilles says, though his voice sounds very somber when he says this. "And also, the other me...I think that what may have happened was that when he got his hands on the Holy Grail of that Singularity, he used it to attempt to create a Jeanne d'Arc that fit with his likings. A Jeanne d'Arc that would share his sentiments about the country of France. But because the real Jeanne d'Arc possesses none of the things that he wanted, he perhaps chose the next best option and simply created a Servant based on Jeanne d'Arc that did conform to his desires. That is, I believe, what caused Jeanne d'Arc Alter to come into being."

"Right now, Jalter believes that she is the alternative version of me," Jeanne sighs quietly. "She believes that with all of her heart. I have tried to tell her that that is not accurate, but...I haven't been able to convince myself to tell her this."

So in other words, Jalter's having an existential crisis about herself and how she isn't what she thought she was. While I'd like to laugh, I won't. Now's not the time to be an asshole.

"I'll try to handle this at some point," I nod to everyone. "In the meantime, lemme go check on how that portal's coming along..."


	54. Dinnertime

"Tamamo, Kiyo, everything's ready?"

"はいはい～ everything is A-OK!"

"Ok, good."

I take a deep breath, and with a big rice spoon in my hand, I raise it up to the side of my mouth and bellow,

 _ **"DINNER'S READAAAAAYYYYYYYY!"**_

Having let out the true war cry, I stand with my arms folded in Chaldea's cafeteria kitchen, gazing through the large open window that separates the people manning the kitchen, which would be myself, Tamamo, and Kiyohime, from the rest of the cafeteria. Tamamo and Kiyohime peek over too, popping up from beneath the counter on either side of me like moles in that whack-a-mole game machine.

"You think they heard you?" Tamamo asks curiously.

"Oh, they did," I nod confidently. "If nothing else, Salter'll let everyone else know."

"How? She only cares about herself."

"Just watch..."

A few seconds of sheer silence pass as we wait, and soon, the silence gets torn down by the sliding cafeteria doors getting kicked down with impunity by a certain alternate Saber, who flash-steps right in front of me with sparkles flying off her face. I'm pretty sure Salter doesn't normally know how to flash-step.

"Reporting for dinner duty, Master," Salter declares eagerly, keeping her stoic, icy look that's being melted by the slight sign of drool on the left corner of her mouth.

"Aye, dinner's ready," I repeat myself, handing her a bowl of fluffy white rice puffing with steam fresh out of the huge rice cooker pot we've got in the corner of the kitchen. I want to ask Olga later why they decided to get a giant-ass rice cooker, but whatever the reason, it's a good thing it's here. "The others comin'?"

"I do not know," Salter shakes her head, receiving the bowl of rice. The bowl I've given her is not actually a rice bowl, but a large soup bowl instead, not because there aren't smaller bowls here, but because I know those smaller bowls isn't about to satisfy Salter's appetite anytime soon.

But as if to answer me in Salter's stead, more Servants start showing up at the cafeteria, though it's clear that some of them are only here to investigate what that loud noise was just now.

"Kiyo-chan, lay out the bowls of miso soup on the counter, _pu-re-su ~ "_ Tamamo, speaking in Japanese to her friend, says "please" in romanji, and Kiyohime takes the bowls of miso soup that Tamamo is pouring out with her ladle from the large metal vat of miso soup that she's cooked and carefully and beautifully lines them up on the counter where I stand so that the Servants can take them at their convenience.

Salter still hasn't sat down, since unlike Artoria, she seems to prefer having dishes with her rice, and she's been sniffing the air hungrily. No surprise, none of the Servants have consumed any actual food over the course of the Singularity since all they really need is mana, so Servants like Salter who take great pleasure in eating food would naturally be famished, just not in the life-threatening way.

And so seeing this, I stop scooping out rice into the smaller rice bowls for the Servants to take with the bowls of miso soup and head back over to the stoves. Another large metal vat sits next to the miso soup vat, but this one's halfway filled with crimini mushrooms, zucchini, and chicken sauteed with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic sauce. Picking the entire thing up with my bare hands, even though doing this is dangerous for normal people since the handles are still very hot, I carry the large vat carefully out of the kitchen and head over to the long table that we've set up for all the Servants to gather and have some dinner.

As I head out, Artoria, who's tailed Salter to see what she's up to, gasps quite loudly at the sight of not only Salter holding a big bowl of fluffy white rice but also me carrying a delicious-smelling vat of sauteed mushroom, zucchini, and chicken over to the table that I'm headed for.

"Is dinner ready, Master?" Artoria bounds over to me, with Lily in tow as well, marveling at the sight of the food as I slip the vat into a large hole that I've magically drilled into the table specifically to accommodate these large vats. It's more efficient just to bring out these large vats wholesome rather than to dole them out individually - things like rice and soup, on the other hand, are more suited to individual portions.

"Yup, it's ready. Help yourself to some rice over on the counter, though if you wanna wait a bit, I can give you a bigger bowl, just like the one that Salter has." I point over to Salter, who's actually right next to me, already sitting down and wolfing down rice while waiting for me to properly set the vat up.

"Yes, of course! Please, take your time," Artoria says, but she's only saying that: when I glance at her briefly, her eyes have become stars, mesmerized by the sight of good food after going two days without it, pretty much.

The sight of the King of Britain marveling over food hasn't gotten old yet, and I hope it never does.

I get down on the floor and scoot underneath the table, slapping a small rune down on the floor underneath the vat, and I snap my fingers lightly to light the rune on fire. A small but brightly dancing flame ignites on the center of the rune, and it immediately begins heating up the vat from underneath, just like a stove, but I adjust the flame's temperature to ensure that it's never going to overcook the food in the vat; it's only going to provide enough heat for the vat to absorb and keep the food warm.

"Mkay...that's done..." I groan a little as I get back up from underneath the table, just in time to see Tamamo and Kiyohime carrying in the other vats too that have crispy marinated beef cooked with red bell peppers, onions, and sweet 'n sour sauce, among a lot of other sauces and honey tempura shrimp mixed with sweetened walnuts and small bite-sized pieces of scallions, respectively. "Oh, thanks, just set them down and I'll take care of 'em."

"Oooh, Master! Did you cook all this?" St. George beams proudly as I duck underneath the table again to set the flame for the crispy beef vat.

"Yeah, these three big vats - I cooked these, Tamamo made the miso soup, and Kiyo made some sukiyaki," I explain, igniting the second rune flame and crawling over to the third one to take care of that.

"This is certainly a grand feast, Master. I wonder if we would be able to eat it all...?" Siegfried, who's made friends with St. George, ponders aloud, worriedly scans the vats and estimates their quantities.

"Ah, Sir Siegfried, if you are worried about not being able to finish all the food, don't worry," Lily cheerfully reassures Siegfried.

"Oh, are there some of us who have large appetites today?"

Lily nods, pointing over to her two older selves, who've sat together on the long table and are already halfway done with their large bowls of rice.

"Ah...I see. With those two, yes..." Siegfried clears his throat politely after seeing the two Artoria's practically inhale their rice. "We need not worry about the potential waste of food."

"Sir Siegfried, I will not tolerate any comments about our eating habits!" Artoria barks over to them while Salter straight up doesn't care. Given how those two usually act around each other, it's still pretty jarring to see them sit together for chow and just eat.

"S-Sorry!" Siegfried apologizes swiftly.

When I emerge from underneath the table after lighting the third rune flame, I see that everyone's now filing into the cafeteria, including Da Vinci, Roman, and Olga. Using Salter as bait to get everyone to come eat dinner worked out, if only a bit slowly.

"Master, I've brought the tongs ~ where should I put them?" Tamamo asks sweetly.

"Ah, just set them in the vats themselves, they should be long enough for it," I tell her, but then I realize she's only brought a set of three tongs, one for each vat. "I'll bring some more."

"Worry not, Master, I have them here ~ " Kiyohime sings over, exiting the kitchen with armfuls of more large tongs, and I hurry over to her to relief her of her burden and distribute the wares accordingly so that each vat has at least three, maybe four, pairs of tongs.

"Senpai! Please, let me help too," Matthew, hurrying over quickly to us as if she's alarmed that she wasn't here from the beginning to help out, joins me as I stride back over to the kitchen.

"Uh, help me get everyone their rice and miso soup," I ask her, and then I turn around to the rest of the Servants. "Everyone, feel free to take a seat somewhere and start eating, we'll get you your rice and soup here."

"Tch...what's with this...trying to win everyone's approval by cooking..." Jalter scornfully remarks with a look of raw disgust on her face, walking towards the table with Jeanne and Gilles close behind them. "Servants don't even _need_ food, so isn't this all just a pathetic waste of effort?"

"Now, now, Jalter, let's not insult Master's cooking. It looks good, doesn't it? Come, let's have some," Jeanne suggests in her usual upbeat manner. I can't imagine being able to deal with Jalter with such a positive outlook and attitude even for a day - truly, Jeanne is a Saint, even if she herself refuses to admit it.

"Hey, August, why did you - _why did you turn the cafeteria into your own personal kitchen?!"_

Stomping over to me in the kitchen, Olga yells at me all demandingly and shit while I'm still handing out rice and miso soup with the help of Matthew, Kiyohime, and Tamamo.

"Didn't Da Vinci tell you? I was looking around for you to get your permission to use the kitchen, but Da Vinci said that you were off busy somewhere and she said it was okay if we used the cafeteria." I shrug a little, dual-wielding bowls of rice. "It's not like there's anyone else here who's about to use it."

"But why can't you just make dinner at your own house?"

"You think I'll be able to fucking cook for _nineteen_ people in my house when I could barely cook for five?" I give Olga my own stinkeye. "Oh, and while we're here, bump that number up to twenty-two."

"You didn't need to make _me_ dinner, too!" Olga exclaims.

"Okay, that's fine, then. Don't eat."

Throwing some quality words of bluntness at her, I walk swiftly past her to deliver my next load of rice bowls, handing them to Vlad and Carmilla.

"Hmm...these meat dishes appear quite the delicacies, but if they were to have some more blood in them..." Vlad murmurs, gazing carefully at the vats of food around him.

Ah shit, I forgot Vlad is a vampire here.

"I'm sorry, we didn't have any meat that had blood in them. I know how to cook meat with blood in it, but I can't cook it here because I just don't have access to any bloody meat," I apologize. "If you'd like to wait, we can go to my hometown through the portal that Da Vinci made and I can serve you a meal that's more to your liking."

Vlad strokes his magnificent beard, considering the option.

"Then I shall take you up on this offer. I am looking forward to it - do not disappoint me, Master," he decides, just like a king.

"Yeah, I'll try my best not to." I turn around to Kiyohime, who's tending to the large pots of sukiyaki in the kitchen now. "Kiyo, do you need help over there?"

"Ah...y-yes, please!" Kiyohime calls, and I promptly go over to join her and help her carry the pots of sukiyaki over to the tables as well, distributing them evenly throughout the tables. By this point, everyone who isn't among the first to arrive have come by, and everyone's sitting down to get in on some of this food before Artoria and Salter devour everything just between the two of them.

"Busy, busy, busy ~ " Tamamo sings, giving me a great big smile every time we pass, and I chuckle back. I've worked in several different restaurants before back when I was a junior and senior in high school to prepare myself to enter the workforce after graduating, as I didn't have any plans to go to college since my dad was already training me to take over his job one day once I was out of school. Then again, going off to work at restaurants and whatnot didn't really have anything to do with my job, but I never really questioned my dad when he suggested that I do so anyway. Probably to build character, but...

In any case, side tangent aside, this reminds me of those times. As annoying as it was to work as a server/waiter, it was still overall fun, and part of me misses those times.

" _Meister_ , König Artoria - er, _both_ of them have already consumed all of this particular dish!" Mozart calls, pointing down at the vat with the sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, and chicken - well, used to. After setting down a platter of lightly sugared crispy bread that I baked in the oven in the middle of the long table, I glance over, and I verify for myself that the vat is, in fact, very empty.

"How the hell!?" I bark down at the two Artoria's, though I'm not angry about it, just surprised, and Salter frowns defiantly back up at me while Artoria cringes a little, looking rather apologetic as she quickly tries to wipe some soy and ginger sauce off the corners of her mouth. "That was meant for at least ten people and you two cleared it in eight minutes!?"

"And I intended to get some for Marie, too..." Mozart sighs with much concern.

"Ah, not to worry, Mozart, there are plenty of other foods we can partake in," Marie tries to reassure Mozart. "See, Sanson has gotten us some."

"Indeed, these foods look quite the delicacy. Now, Marie, if you will..." Sanson, having brought over a huge plate that he's piled up quite high with food from the rest of the tables, seats himself on Marie's unoccupied side, sets down the plate, and uses a fork to pick up a piece of honey walnut shrimp to guide it towards Marie's mouth. "I believe this is what gentlemen and gentlewomen of this modern era do. Say 'ahhhh'..."

"Aaaahhh..." Marie complies quite willingly, and Sanson feeds Marie that piece of shrimp. "Mmmm ~ ! _C'est vraiment très bon!_ Master, did you cook this for us?"

"Er, yeah. Is it good?" I ask, since I don't understand her French. I want to assume that she finds it good, given her bright expression in her reaction, but assumptions are dangerous.

"Of course! Your cooking is fantastic, Master! Could you make this for us every day?"

 ** _"Eeeeeeeeee! ! !"_**

Out of nowhere, Tamamo, still holding onto the soup ladle that she's brought with her from the kitchen from tending to the giant pot of Kyoto-style udon noodles that she's cooking up, slides right behind me and seizes my arm.

"Miss Marie, I'm sorry to say, but _this man is taken!"_ Tamamo declares firmly.

"Aha ~ I'm so sorry, _Ma_ _demoiselle_ Tamamo. I meant no harm ~ " Marie cheerfully clasps her hands together while Mozart eyes Sanson suspiciously. If I were Mozart, I'd do the same, honestly, considering the fact that Sanson was going on about how he wanted to chop Marie's head off a second time or something back in the Singularity.

"And speaking of which!" Tamamo lets go of my arm to glare up at me with her hands on her hips. "You've done enough here, Master! Please, do help yourself before all the food runs out! It's already happened to a degree, what, with _these_ two also dining!" She gestures down to the two Artoria's.

"By the way, what's happening to the udon?" I mention, which causes Tamamo to jump in alarm and dash back into the kitchen to check on the noodles. This frees me up to glance back into the vat, which is basically empty, just a mass of soy sauce and ginger sauce residue by this point.

So I pull the vat out of the table and take it back to the kitchen to toss it into the massive sink in the corner, and I pull out another one to set on one of the empty open-top stoves.

"Senpai, do you need help?" Matthew asks, always eager to help out as she has been ever since she's arrived in the cafeteria.

"Yes please. You're not hungry?" I ask her, setting out ingredients for a fresh dish, which includes eggs, salt, black pepper, chili peppers, cornstarch, flour, and rice wine, among others.

"I could ask the same of you," Matthew replies crisply.

"Touche. I'll make this one last dish and we can go eat, assuming there's still some left for us."

"If you're hungry, Master, please just say the word," Kiyohime says pleasantly, daintily tiptoeing over to my side and offering me a piece of shabu-shabu boiled in one of her sukiyaki pots that's still cooking with a pair of steel chopsticks. "This is for you. Ahhhh..."

"Matthew, grab one of the bags of chicken in the freezer for me? Thanks," I tell my self-proclaimed underclassman before quickly nabbing the piece of shabu-shabu from Kiyohime's chopsticks, right when Tamamo glances our way to see what Kiyohime is up to.

 _"K-K-K-K-K-Kiyohimeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ! ! !"_ Tamamo screeeches, though as quietly as possible while still getting the message across.

"Ehehe ~ it seems I have won this battle, Tamamo-san," Kiyohime gives Tamamo a playful little grin, which leaves Caster fuming in place.

"Master, how could you?! How could you betray me like this...?!" Tamamo tearfully turns away from me. "And to think we even shared the same bed during the week before we departed for this Singularity...! This fox is greatly wounded - "

"But you just went in and slept with me without really giving me an option about it," I mention, bluntly as always.

"S- _Sleep_ with you?" Kiyohime gasps a little. "I knew it...Master, do not trust that wily fox, she is trying to prepare you to eat you up just at the right moment...! In fact, she has _already_ eaten you up - !"

"Well, no, not like _that_."

"Oh? Not...?"

"No, we just slept together. No lewds."

"No lewds...?" Kiyohime gives Tamamo quite the stinkeye of her own before shaking her head. "Tamamo-san, I'm disappointed."

 _"But why in Amaterasu-sama's name would you be **disappointed**_ _in me for that?!"_ Tamamo screeches again.

"Okay, let's chill out for a second, Tamamo. You can do the same for me, that udon's comin' along just fine," I offer to Tamamo the same chance to do what Kiyohime did, figuring she'd love to seize the offer, and she does. Jumping back into form, she swiftly scoops up a chopstickful of udon noodles and calls over to me.

"But of course, if you wish, Master ~ ! Come, come, please, have a taste of my _absolutely exquisite_ Kyoto-style udon, handcrafted with nothing but my finest love for my Master!" Tamamo exclaims quite happily, and I slurp up the udon from her chopsticks.

Oh wow, Tamamo's udon is excellent. As an udon enthusiast myself, as udon, ramen, and pho are my three favorite styles of Asian noodles, I haven't had udon in a long while, so Tamamo making some is a prime opportunity for me to feast on some.

"It's really good," I nod heartily, finding myself smiling at her udon. The texture and softness of the udon are just perfect, not so soft that you could cut them with just your tongue, but not too tough that they're hard to chew - well, udon shouldn't be like that anyway, but I've had bad udon before, which isn't pleasant. The udon broth is indeed lovely, true to Tamamo's own proclamation, nice and strong to give the noodles their distinct flavor but not too overpowering so that the noodles themselves can be enjoyed without the broth dominating the overall experience. Also, the broth itself is just how I like it, nice, deep and rich - it's almost uncanny, that Tamamo can make udon that I'd love to a tee. "I could have a bowl of this and just call it my dinner, actually."

At my complement, though, Tamamo squeals like a fangirl. Kiyohime, clearly, isn't at all pleased by this.

"And what about my sukiyaki, Master?" Kiyohime asks me suspiciously. "Will you not partake of it?"

"No, I'll have some of it too," I shake my head, preparing some saucepans and cracking some eggs into one of them.

"Promise?"

"Well, I don't know if it's necessary to make a _promise_ over that, I did say that I'd love to try both of your food..."

"Then a promise it is."

I just sigh - I guess Kiyohime can be just as unreasonable as Tamamo can be.

In any case, Matthew's gotten me all the ingredients I need, and I get to work. Since the others are waiting, I decide to hasten the process - rather than use the stove fire, I snap my fingers again underneath the vat, and I use my own flames to immediately heat up the vat. I also ignite my hand with my flames and dip it into the vat itself as I begin to add chicken battered in egg mix and flour batter into the vat, and the kitchen fills with sharp hissing and sizzling noises once again. Working diligently to make sure that the chicken cooks as quickly as possible without compromising on the quality, at least not _too_ much, I grab the vat by its side handles and flip the contents inside up a few times, and I drip some of the flames in my hand into the vat itself and continue tossing the chicken, tossing the flames along with it.

"Y-You can even _cook_ with your own flames, Senpai...?!" Matthew asks in a hushed voice, mesmerized by the sight of me using my own power to cook food, of all things.

"I don't usually do it, since it's really mana-inefficient, but the one advantage that it does have is that it cooks food faster," I tell her while Tamamo and Kiyohime, once they, too, realize that I'm using my own mana to cook food, look on eagerly. "Since my flames're a product of my mana, they're more effective at cooking stuff, especially when it's applied directly like this."

"But wouldn't applying fire directly to food normally be a bad idea...?" Matthew points out.

"Yeah, it would be, but y'know, magic is a funny thing sometimes..."

And in just seven minutes flat, I've got myself a whole vat-ful of orange chicken sizzling before me. I can only hope that this is good; cooking with my own flames is risky because while food does get cooked faster, there's a chance that the flavor could be off, because the flames that I use are _too_ strong and can simply burn away some of the flavor, either by ruining the quality of the chicken or by simply burning away too much of the sauce or flavoring, but I think I've done a good enough job not doing either.

"This Kiyohime can do that too, but...I end up burning the food instead," Kiyohime murmurs a bit sadly. "So, Master, would you like to teach me how to use my flames more effectively? It seems you have plenty of experience in this..."

"No, he's teaching _me_ first!" Tamamo butts in, as per usual.

"But I thought both of you already knew how to cook," I point out. "You don't need _me_ to teach you, you two cook better than me."

"But that's simply not true!" Caster protests. "And I can prove it! Matthew-chan, have this piece of chicken. What do you think about it?"

Fishing out a piece of sizzling orange chicken from the vat, Tamamo feeds it to Matthew, who bites into it as Fou comes slinking into the kitchen, eager to see what Matthew's up to.

"Mmmmm ~ ! Senpai, this is really good! It's just as good as the one they make at that one restaurant, the - the Panda Express restaurant, I think it was called!" she agrees, nodding fervently.

"Ah, that's because I basically copied them," I shrug. "Their recipes are good since they're perfect for making large amounts at once." I take a piece of orange chicken from the vat and stoop to feed it to Fou, who also eagerly munches on the piece of orange chicken quite happily.

"Ah, Master, me too," Kiyohime offers her own mouth to me. "And I would also like you to return the favor, if you will. Aaaahhhh ~ "

"No, no, not Kiyo-chan, Master, me first! I was first, you know!" Tamamo mimics Kiyohime, so now I have two girls on either side of me enthusiastically waiting for me to feed them pieces of orange chicken.

Rather than stand here and deplore my situation, I immediately dip my hands down into the vat, carefully whip out a piece of chicken each to dual-wield them, and place them into each of the ladies' mouths. Mission accomplished.

"Senpai, something tells me that you've got it a bit rough now..." Matthew remarks awkwardly as Fou leaps up into her arms while both Kiyohime and Tamamo begin to gush over my cooking while I taste my own chicken too to see just how good it is. Hm, it is actually pretty good - I didn't expect it to turn out quite this well.

"I'll manage, I think," I reassure Matthew. "Somehow."


	55. Marshmallows

**A/N:**

 **TheLastNanaya: you have some of my readers to thank, they were the ones who suggested that I put this in the general FSN archive, because otherwise I would've been fine with just leaving this in the Grand Order archive instead.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

Flames march around my feet as I trudge through the sand again.

I haven't seen them in a while. But given the fact that I've regressed into using my flame power again, it only makes sense that they'll haunt me here.

It's not really "haunting", though. I've gotten tired of hearing nothing but wind, grinding sand, and the crunch of it underneath my own shoes, but then again, anybody would be. At least the flames add a bit more spice to this dreary audio landscape that I'm subjected to while I continue to wander this wasteland aimlessly.

Well, "aimlessly" wouldn't be accurate, but to anyone else, it would certainly seem like it.

I pull down on the visor of my cap and continue walking. I'll wake up soon.

* * *

"... _my_ husband, and yet you _dare_ have the _gall_ to insist that you also possess a spot in this same bed?"

"Preposterous, you do not even possess a marriage certificate, and you have not even engaged in a marriage ceremony with Master. Surely _you_ are not the one who is truly delusional? And to think that _I_ am the one who possesses the Mad Enhancement skill..."

...it's a bit loud.

"That has nothing to do with this! And how many times have I told you by now, Kiyo-chan, this is _my_ husband, and no one will be laying a hand on him but _me!_ Do you not respect this right that I have as his wife...?!"

"Ara ara, and you continue to insist on being his wife when you really aren't. How silly, Tamamo-san, I thought you were supposed to be a gentle lady like myself who is able to think through things rationally and thoughtfully..."

"Ex- _cuse_ me, did I just hear an irresponsible snake who burned a man who refused her feelings inside a bell talk of things like rationality and thoughtfulness?"

"Those are but trivial matters; all that matters is that Master resembles that man greatly and that it is my duty as his Servant to take good care of him. Which also involves not letting a wily little fox like you get the better of him."

"L-Little?! _But you're shorter than me!"_

"But by a mere two centimeters; I think you will agree with me here that that matters not, all things considered."

...why are they _both_ in my bed?

"In any case, Kiyo-chan, I know that we're friends and all and I'm really super duper happy that we managed to meet, but _Master is my husband, whether or not the marriage has taken place,"_ Tamamo insists, and this is the part where she seizes my head and stuffs it into her bosom. I wonder if I can see the universe from here.

"That we are, but as goes the phrase, 'all is fair in love and war'," Kiyohime talks back, also seizing me swiftly after Tamamo does and trying to pull me towards herself, so now I find my head sandwiched in between two pairs of omega-sized marshmallows. "Master shall be mine; fate has dictated it."

"Since when?"

"Since I became his Servant in the Singularity. If fate had it any other way, that would be proof that I was not destined to meet him. But now that it has, that is proof that we _are_ in fact destined. You can play with your own little childish visions of becoming a wife while I have the power of fate behind my cause."

"Yeah, as if you known anything _about_ fate! And I can take care of him better than _you_ can! Even Master can tell you that!"

"But he has yet to have a taste of my own powers of being a wife...?"

I would love to stay like this, but not only do I not want them to argue because I would much prefer them to get along, but also their boobs are quite literally suffocating me. So I wriggle my face out of them and blink a few times.

"Ah, Master ~ " Tamamo seizes her chance to pull me out of Kiyohime's arms and hugs me dearly. "Good morning, I apologize that a certain snake managed to slip inside our very private bedchambers - "

"No, that's fine, it's just, my bed isn't exactly an open hotel," I groan quietly, rubbing my right eye.

"See, Kiyo-chan!? He said that this isn't an open hotel! That means you aren't allowed here! Shoo, shoo!" Tamamo tries to manually shoo Kiyohime away with her left hand.

"You do know that that also applies to you too, Tammy."

Tamamo, as expected, lets out a gasp of betrayal.

"M-Master, how...how could you...?" Tamamo starts sniffling like I've dreadfully damaged her feelings. "After...after all these...these lovely nights...! You...you want to cast me aside...?"

"Goddamn it."

Kiyohime just chuckles as she sits up next to me. She, just like Tamamo, is still fully dressed in her usual sea-greenish-blue kimono.

"It must be difficult for you to have to deal with Tamamo-san. If you would like to seek a more gentle and accommodating wife, by all means, Master, I am all too willing to take up that responsibility, ufufu ~ "

"Don't do it, Master, she's gonna put you in a bell somewhere and torch you!" Tamamo squeezes the side of my face once against into her chest.

As enjoyable as this is, I'd rather not have to wake up to this everyday.

* * *

April 24th.

"Mmm...you can't get your agent in China to lower this price at all, then?"

Spinning an ordinary, cheap office pen that you could buy by the box at Staples round and round my fingers, I recline slightly in my chair with my office phone in hand. Jeanne is sitting quietly and dutifully on the foot of my bed, dressed in a sleeveless white shirt that dangerously exposes much of her back and pretty much the entireties of her frail but soft-looking arms, a small navy blue ascot, dubiously short jeans, and dark thighhighs. I think it'll be a good idea if I head out and buy some more chairs or something; there's a conspicuous lack of chairs in the house, now that I have, what, nineteen Servants under my wing.

The door opens, and I turn around to see who it is, which is Matthew about to enter the room and then doing a double take at the sight of me holding the phone up to my ear, a dead giveaway that I'm talking to somebody, obviously. She tries to slip away quietly in alarm, thinking that she's stepped in at the wrong time, but I shake my head over at her and beckon for her to stay while listening to another one of my business partners in New Orleans, who runs a furniture store and imports his wares in from factories in China, around the Shanghai area. He's new to the importing and freight logistics stuff of his business, so I'm advising him personally on some stuff, since this is also one of those cases where my dad knew his uncle, who retired recently and passed the business onto his nephew.

"Well, right now we're at the time of the year where freight prices start slowly going back up," I speak into the phone as Matthew excuses herself and slips inside while closing the door as quietly as she can behind her, joining Jeanne at the foot of the bed with Fou nipping at her heels, though not literally. "If you wanted to ship a lot of stuff, you should've done that over the past couple of months, like some time right after Chinese New Year's. You still can now, it's just...it's a bit tougher to get your containers shipped at the price you want."

Once Matthew is seated comfortably at the foot of my bed, with Fou snuggling into her lap and Jeanne reaching over to pet him, I swivel around to face my desk again and take a look at some of the manila folders I've got sprawled over my desk.

"Remember, you have a couple of different rates. The price I sent you goes inland, it's what we call a mini-land bridge," I explain. "Your container comes in through LAX, and they put it on rail to send it over to New Orleans. But that's the fastest route we have, so naturally it's gonna cost the most. The cheapest price we have goes all the way around through the Panama Canal and then goes back up to New Orleans, maybe after stopping by a free port somewhere of the carrier's choice. That takes the longest, but it's the cheapest. Your uncle used to plan stuff ahead of time so that he could always pay the all-water fees and have a steady supply of shipments coming in, but sometimes he used the MLB prices too if he needed some stuff in his warehouse fast."

Scribbling some more messy notes on the topmost manila folder, because my handwriting has gotten progressively worse throughout my schooling years and hasn't ever improved since, I set down my pen after I'm done and turn to my computer to type away.

"Okay, so the all-water route...got it. I'll confirm it with my agent. If you have any questions, let me know through email. If it's urgent, you have my number, as usual," I conclude. "Okay, Chris, have a good afternoon, you too, thanks, bye."

I click the phone off and set it back in its charging port. The rapid clicking of cherry keys fills the air briefly until I send the email that I'm typing.

"Okay, I'm done with work for this morning," I announce to the girls, stacking up the various folders on my desk and then neatly arranging them back into the folder stacks on my side desk right next to me.

"Thank you for your hard work, Senpai," Matthew smiles warmly over at me as Fou, hearing that I'm done with work, wriggling out of my self-proclaimed underclassman's lap and leaps over to me, and I catch him and start messing with his ears a little.

"I-I hope I wasn't a bother during your work, Master," Jeanne stammers out. She'd come in to talk to me, a little while ago, but then I told her that I'd like to finish my work for the morning but also told her that it was okay if she wanted to wait for me inside my room, and she accepted. I'm not quite too sure of what I think about the legendary Joan of Arc sitting in my room, on the foot of my own bed, in admittedly slightly provocative casual clothes, but I'm not against it, either.

A really fucking vague way of saying that it's pleasant.

"Nah, it's fine," I shake my head while waving my hand, all in a matter of less than half a second. "But you asked during the Singularity what kind of business I ran, and it's this. Nothing much to look at, though, since almost all the work I do for my business is electronic."

"I see..."

"Anyways, how do you like it here? My house is a bit small, as you can see, for nineteen of you," I smile awkwardly. "And this is a completely different country, too, and I believe you've never been out of France before..."

"Not in my own lifetime, no, but I have traveled extensively as a Servant," Jeanne professes, but as soon as she says that, she hesitates, a gloomy look being draped over her face. "But...that's what is so strange..."

"The fact that you remember what happened in your previous incarnations?" I ask, still busy playing with Fou's ears, and Jeanne nods.

"Servants shouldn't be able to remember what they did in past incarnations of themselves. After all, whenever a Servant gets summoned into a Holy Grail War, it is not the actual Servant themselves who is summoned, but a mere copy. The actual Servant remains with the Throne of Heroes; a copy of that Servant is sent in their place. Therefore, whatever memories that copy accumulates stays with that copy; as such, the knowledge and memories that that Servant copy gathers in its lifetime will be lost when that Servant disappears from that Holy Grail War, meaning that they are not normally kept and dispensed to the next copy of that Servant that is incarnated."

"But you're a Ruler, and before this, I'd never even heard of that kinda class. Are Rulers exceptions, or are they subject to that too?"

"Rulers are not exempt. They are exempt from many rules in a standard Holy Grail War, but that, they cannot escape, either. That is why I am a little...worried," Jeanne murmurs, looking quite discomforted, or even disturbed. "It was already clear when I found myself summoned that this Holy Grail War was far from the norm, but this..."

"Try not to let it bother you too much; we'll try to figure out what's so different with this Grail War that's causing everyone to remember what they did in their past incarnations," I reassure her. "In the meantime, is lunch ready?"

Matthew nods. "That's why I was sent up here, to tell you that the food is ready now. Lady Tamamo and Lady Kiyohime outdid themselves again."

"Sweet, then let's go eat."

We shuffle out of my room and head downstairs. The portal that connects my house to Chaldea's headquarters in the Swiss Alps is located in the narrow basement next to the garage, so as intended, both my Servants and I can freely traverse back and forth between my home and Chaldea at our leisure. Now if only modern technology could apply that...

"Ah, Master! Good afternoon ~ " Lily, who's already helping Marie and St. George set the table, which is actually three tables slapped together so that everyone in the house can sit together and eat, greets me energetically and sweetly as always, and I respond by rubbing her cheeks and scratching her hair, to which she responds by squealing a little in delight and smiling so brightly my eyes go blind for a second.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Master," St. George also bids me a pleasant greeting, carefully arranging the chopsticks, forks, and spoons for each of the mats that have been spread out for the plates and dishes for each seat. He's wearing perfectly ordinarily contemporary casual clothes, but for some reason his white shirt has a picture of a derpy-looking dragon on it and the caption over and underneath it spell out "THIS IS A DRAGON".

"Ah, yeah, you too," I nod back at him. I know that I should've expected this to an extent, but it's still really weird to see all of these Servants just hang out in casual clothes like it's no big deal. This'll take some getting used to.

I slip past everyone and peek into the kitchen, where Tamamo and Kiyohime seem to have teamed up to cook up a fabulous Japanese lunch for everyone. I could sit here and describe everything that they've made, but I think I'd waste too much space on this chapter doing so. Though, that does remind me that typically Japanese people don't have lunches this big, but then again, lunch isn't exactly the most important meal of the day for a lot of cultures...

"We're almost done here, Master ~ " Tamamo calls over her shoulder, taking one final sip of her udon broth that she's remade after I praised her fantastic udon yesterday night. "Could you call over the others and tell them it's time to have lunch?"

"A'ight."

Normally I'd love to help set the kitchen, but I guess with five Servants or so already doing that, there's no need for me to hang around and be in their way. So I saunter over to the living room, scratching my head at how different and lively my household's become in a matter of like a week.

I find Salter, Artoria, Jalter, Elizabeth, and Siegfried all hanging out, watching a rerun of Forest Gump on TV. As usual, Salter and Artoria are snacking on something, and this time it's these cheap flavored Chinese rice crackers that I pick up at that Korean supermarket that we went to last time for like two bucks per package. Cheap, but tasty, which is all the matters.

"Food's ready," I tell them as we exchange our round of greetings. I notice that Siegfried's shirt reads "THROUGH THE FIRE AND FLAMES".

"Piggy, piggy, looklooklook!" Liz springs up to her feet with the help of her respectably large tail and shows me a magazine that she's got open to a certain page. More accurately it's a catalog for an electronics store, and on it it's got a studio microphone, studio-grade headset, and other studio equipment. "I heard from that Italian inventor girl that if I buy these, I'll be able to produce my own songs! How about it, piggy? Wanna help me become the next hit idol in this country? I hear pop culture is all the rage these days! It's perfect!"

A brief summary of this current year's "pop culture" songs runs through my head, as I sometimes listen to random radio stations in my car whenever I'm driving around and don't feel like listening to my own playlists on my phone.

"I mean, if you wanna _try...?"_ I say hesitantly.

"Not just _try!"_

Elizabeth takes a cute little hop backwards, and hoisting her magazine up into the air with her other hand proudly on the corresponding hip, Lancer declares proudly,

"I'll be the best idol singer this country's ever seen! This country, this 'United States of America', is a big country, I know! And a big country undoubtedly has a big population! Imagine it, my dear piggy - a stadium, an amphitheater, a stage where I stand upon it, surrounded by hundreds, no, _thousands_ of screaming fans raving for my exquisite and irreplaceable singing talent - talent that'll take this country by the storm and forever cement my legacy as an id - "

"Uh, Liz, sorry to say, but this country isn't too hot on idols," I say dully.

Immediately, Elizabeth falls over. Hard. She collapses so hard that for a moment, I'm afraid she's broken something.

"N-Nonsense! There isn't a country on this whole wide _planet_ that isn't into _**idols! ! ! !"**_ Elizabeth screeches, immediately hopping back up to her feet and yowling in my face. Even though I have glasses on, I still close my eyes anyway because there's flying bits of spit pelting me in the face.

"You're probably thinking of Japan. There's a thriving idol culture over there, as far as I'm concerned," I tell her, wiping my face with the back of my right sleeve. "I don't really know too much about idol culture, too, so I can't be of much help, unfortunately. But I _can_ tell you that if you're trying to be an idol here, well..."

"That _can't_ be! I _refuse_ to believe this! You're going to tell me," Elizabeth exclaims, seizing me by my shoulders and beginning to shake me back and forth, her Hungarian accent harassing my eardrums desperately, "you're going to tell me that _this country doesn't realize the marvelous appeal of IDOLS?!"_

"You're asking me...?" I murmur back incredulously the moment I get a chance to talk - i.e. Liz stops shaking me like a ragdoll.

"Master, you should just tell her to give up on her idol bullshit," Jalter snickers over to us. "If she so cares about that dumb idol crap of hers, let's see just how far she's willing to go to pursue it."

"I don't wanna be told that by a Frenchie who tried burning down her own country," Elizabeth snaps back.

"Says the bitch who slaughtered dozens of her own people just because she thought bathing in their blood would keep her young," Jalter fires back quickly, like a gun just itching to go off at any opportune moment. "Wow, this cute little baby dragon can sure talk, huh? Where'd you learn to have that sort of tongue?"

"And I certainly don't recall ever asking for an opinion that isn't Piggy's!" Elizabeth growls, and I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's growing increasingly annoyed with Jalter already. "Why don't you stay out of this, Burnt French Toast?"

"It's rather hard to when you're shouting around about it in this room, Dragonlet," Jalter scoffs. I notice that Siegfried and Artoria are growing uncomfortable with the way this conversation is going, though both Jalter and Liz seem oblivious to their body languages. "You're doing a _great_ job starting off on your career path of becoming an idol, absolutely tremendous. Keep it up, maybe if you shout around a bit more about how you want to become an idol, you'll - "

Without warning (or maybe perhaps there was one), the point of a wicked lance with a narrow halberd-like blade hovers just in front of Jalter's nose. Jalter, though, doesn't flinch one bit.

In part because the moment I see the lance materialize in Elizabeth's hand, I react instantly. My right hand is already clasped around Elizabeth's spear, just in front of her own right hand that she uses to hold it.

"Master, what...?" Siegfried asks quietly and hesitantly, and even Salter has glanced over in curiosity, but I'm not paying to him at the moment, because I'm glaring hard down at Liz.

"Even if she's provoking you, I'd like to kindly ask you not to threaten someone in my own house," I ask Elizabeth quietly, eliminating any possible trace of emotion in my voice.

"Let go, piggy. I asked you to be my _manager_ , not my _warden_ ," Elizabeth darkly hisses back, her neon-ish-blue eyes slowly adjusting at me instead of Jalter.

"And you agreed to be my _Servant_ , not a delinquent," I shoot back. "And if I were to let you two to have at each other, you'll fucking blow up this entire block, which I won't allow. If you want to settle things with her, take it to Chaldea; I'm sure Da Vinci's got some sorta training room for you two to blow up."

"Lady Elizabeth, please calm down. This is the home of our Master; I cannot agree with anything that would involve putting it or anyone around it in danger," Artoria adds, slowly getting up to her own feet as well in her quaint little dress. Siegfried also joins her, but silently, while the Alter girls casually keep watching Tom Hanks carry Gary Sinise out of a Vietnamese jungle in the middle of an artillery strike.

Grumbling to herself in Hungarian, Elizabeth stands down, de-materializing her lance.

"Tch. A manager who doesn't even support me..." Elizabeth remarks grumpily, turning and shoving me out of her way, and she swiftly slips down the stairs to the basement, and we can hear the telltale _shwoop!_ of the portal teleporting her back to Chaldea.

"Don't mind her, Master," Jalter scoffs tauntingly. "She's the kind of girl who can't stand being ignored for very long at all, if you know anything about her. She'll come back soon enough, though I'm sure you're not exactly looking forward to that."

Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous Hungarian countess who terrorized the country by kidnapping, torturing, and brutally murdering upwards of hundreds of young women for her own enjoyment, though the exact number is debated. I don't profess to know much about her, admittedly, so maybe I should take the time to put my history cap back on and do some side research on these Servants. Though, if she really is Elizabeth Bathory, why the hell is she so infatuated with being an idol? Idol culture is a modern phenomenon, so why's someone who lived back in the 16th century so obsessed with that?

As soon as I reach the end of this train of thought, however, we hear the _shwoop!_ of the portal sounding off again, and I turn around to find Elizabeth depressedly walking back up the stairs. She stops at the top of the stairs.

"...I forgot Carmilla was on the other side," Liz, still grumpy, mutters, and she slowly drags her feet over to the table.


	56. A Fox and a Dragon

I turn down the volume of the alternative rock radio station that's playing in my car stereo and punch in some numbers into my car's dashboard, making a call over Bluetooth while keeping my eyes on the road behind my pair of aviator glasses that used to be my dad's. I loved the way they looked on it in the past, but when I tried putting them on when I was young, they were too big for me. Now they fit just fine, though I've somewhat grown out of my slight obsession over aviator glasses by this point. The rolling of the dial tone tumbling out of the car speakers silences the quiet conversation that Artoria and Lily are having together, with Salter sitting directly behind me quietly while looking out her window and with Tamamo sitting shotgun.

 _"Mr. Il?"_

I clear my throat quickly, stopping at a red light at an intersection.

"Hey. I got the location of Jacob Vurtans-Quintana; or, if you recognize this other name better, Coke Cabron. He's gonna be in western Archibrod, at Sotimala Beach, tomorrow at one-thirty," I speak loudly and clearly into my steering wheel. "There's a diner that he's got plans to eat at with a distributor of his so that they can talk business; I'll be in that diner before him and deal with him before he can get in."

 _"Okay. What about the distributor?"_

"I got my boys to handle him; they'll intercept him 'fore he can get to the diner."

 _"Understood. I'll be there with the local police to take care of what comes after."_

"Thanks."

I click off the call using a button on the steering wheel.

"Who was that, Master?" Tamamo asks, very curious by the brief conversation that I've had.

"That was Hal Yoalsin, he's the head of the Los Angeles Police Department," I explain. "He's aware that I'm a mage, but he's agreed to keep it a secret."

"Is it not risky to allow a civilian to be aware of your status as a mage?" Artoria asks.

"It is, but if he leaks any info that he's got on me, I'll know. He's one of a few handful of people that I know who're normal but know that magic is a thing in this world, so I can narrow down the choices and figure out who's ratted me out. And he's really unlikely to do anything, he benefits a lot from knowing someone like me."

"And so what was that conversation all about just now?" Tamamo pokes on.

"Remember the phone call I had back at Chaldea when Olga was talking to us, and I had to step outside for a quick sec?"

"Uh-huh."

"That was a guy who runs a known drug ring in a nearby town called Archibrod, it's about an hour's drive away from here, depending on traffic." I check my left and steer onto the next lane over to prepare to take the left turn that I'll need to drive up to the gun range's parking lot. "Hal contacted me earlier this year asking for my help in investigating and eliminating his drug cartel. We're in a position to both take him out and shut down his drug operations at the same time, nice and clean."

"Using your powers to help ordinary citizens in this way..." Salter muses as if she's entertained by the thought. "It is no wonder that your contemporaries have branded you as an outcast, Master."

"Yeah, and they can go fuck themselves," I sneer casually. "If they wanna waste their lives fuckin' searchin' for the goddamn Root, that's none 'a my business, honestly. It's when they send mages to kill me that I start having a real problem with them."

"You won't have to worry about a thing when you've got me around, Master. Mages aren't shit but hoes and tricks!" Tamamo tries to rap to hilarious effect, and I can't stop myself from smirking in amusement at that because it's so unexpected. I blame that one song we listened to when I first turned on the radio, which defaulted to a rap/hip-hop radio station.

"I'm a mage too, for what that's worth," I remind Caster as I pull back into the parking lot.

Piling out of the car, I get the rear door open and pull out the first gun case, and my Servants pull one weapon case each. I rap my knuckles against the old, beat-up looking garage door after casting my Presence Concealment spell, and within a moment, the door rattles as it starts rising up tiredly. Behind it stands Chuck, who raises a hand at me in greeting with a cigarette in his lips.

"Haven't seen you smokin' in a while," I remark to him, nodding to the girls behind me to carry in the cases that they're holding into Chuck's little warehouse, and we stack up the cases in a cleared corner that Chuck points us over to.

"First one in two...no, three weeks," he tells me, and when I turn around, he's holding out his cigarette pack at me with a single cigarette poking out of it. I notice that the pack is still relatively full. "You smoke too, right?"

"Only when I feel like it. I'm good for now, though," I respectfully decline, and Chuck pockets his pack, tapping the large red button on the side of the garage door with his palm to close it. The girls look around the place again - Tamamo has been here before, but it's the Artorias' first time, so with varying sentiments, they observe their surroundings keenly. Artoria, naturally, looks on edge, since Chuck's warehouse is a dark room that's a little claustrophobic, while Salter and Lily look fascinated with all the guns and firearms that can be seen everywhere.

Pulling out several moderate wads of cash in cold hard hundred dollar bills out of two storage runes, I count them in front of Chuck at his desk carefully to confirm for him that I'm paying his fees, no bullshit. After counting, I hand him the cash, and he recounts them for himself before typing into his computer to take a log of it.

"Thank you for business," Chuck laughs, stashing the cash in a small lockbox on his desk next to his computer. "You help me buy dinner this month, haha."

"You're runnin' that low, huh?" I ask, letting a bit of concern slip into my tone. Chuck reaches into his little fridge again and tosses me a can of Cherry Coca-Cola, which I catch and open to drink right away, since it's been a long time since I've last had Cherry Coke.

"Another two clients die since last time you were here," Chuck explains with a sigh, turning in his swivel chair and sipping on his own bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola, made with real sugar, by the way, not the dogshit that Americans call high-fructose corn syrup. "My big paychecks for this month. Now..." Chuck helplessly raises his palms up in a big shrug.

"You did say this wasn't a very profitable business," I point out, and Chuck nods in agreement.

"I know. I knew people stupid. Just not _this_ stupid. You know?"

"Oh, I know." I take a swig of my beverage. "We both know."

"How is business? Your business?"

"Same as usual. Things are slow for this time of the year, but it's picking back up."

"I need shipper for guns. Maybe you could help me." Chuck gestures to the weapons around us, but I shake my head.

"Nah, I keep my business clean."

"Clean? Coke not clean," Chuck chuckles.

"That's a joint venture with the LAPD, I don't count that. And that's only until we take care 'a that shit."

"When?"

"When what?"

"When that finish?"

"Tomorrow. It ends tomorrow."

"Ah. LAPD ready to take over?"

"It's what I've been told."

"You trust LAPD?"

"Not really, but even if I did, if they fuck up, I have to clean up their shit anyway."

"So no difference, then."

"Yeah, pretty much."

My eyes start to wander, and they quickly find brief refuge from boredom in Chuck's computer monitor. He's minimized or closed out of his Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of his earnings for the month, and behind it is a strange window that has diagrams of what looks to be a...

"...is that a tank?" I ask, pointing with my pinky finger over at Chuck's monitor.

"Ah, this..." Chuck turns to face it too. "Yes, tank. Designing it."

"You?" I walk over to get a closer look. "I didn't know you were into engineering."

"Hobby."

"Hm. I guess you really don't have much else to do."

Chuck chuckles again, as if he can't say anything to that."

"Don't worry, up until recently I just kinda worked and stuff..."

"Working on this for couple months," my friend explains. "Just in case this business fail, maybe I can use this."

"Use it? As in sell it?"

Chuck nods. "To Army, or..."

"But that's risky, isn't it? The military'll check your background, and when they figure out that you've gone under the radar for the past year or so..."

"I still have connection. If not Army, then contractor. Uh...Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, General Electric..."

I think he means General Dynamics.

"This tank not work yet," Chuck shakes his head, his omnipresent smile fading away for once into a displeased frown. "I'm trying to make it work. Trouble...problems..." Chuck chuckles yet again, living up to his name. "Lots of problems."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Too advanced. Personal light tank, very small, very maneuverable, with autonomous function."

"How small are we talking?"

"Dozen of them can fit in this warehouse."

I look around. Damn, that's small.

"And you wanna add an autonomous feature to them?"

Chuck nods.

"...why?"

"Why not?"

I get this feeling that Chuck is not a trained engineer.

Sipping on my Cherry Coke, I watch as Chuck takes a USB drive from his drawer and plugs it into his computer, transferring files onto it and then handing the drive to me.

"If you interested, take a look," Chuck smiles at me wholesomely, and feeling that I'd be rude if I _didn't_ take it, I take it.

"I'm not an engineer, though," I warn him.

"You look like one, though," Chuck laughs heartily.

"Hey, hey, just 'cause I have glasses doesn't make me smart."

"Oh, I know, I know!" Chuck just keeps laughing harder, picking up his own glasses in the process. "It's joke, joke!"

Anywhere else, and Chuck would probably be called out for racial stereotyping.

"But what do you want me to do with this?" I ask him, glancing down at the thumb drive for a moment while somewhat puzzled.

"Give me ideas. Improvements, additions..." Chuck gesticulates. "Always trying to improve. Make better, you know."

"I...guess, but...I'm not exactly a creative thinkin' kinda person..."

"Anything help."

I shrug, pocketing the flash drive. "Sure, I guess. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Master, why don't we have this for dinner every night?"

We're all sitting at a corner table at a Carl's Jr. on the way back home, since I remember that Salter loves burgers and I'd like to take her to a variety of burger places while I'm still a Master. I've ordered a Double-Western Bacon Cheeseburger, my favorite from this place, and Salter's gone with the same - clearly a fellow meat lover. Artoria's gone with the Big Carl, Tamamo's ordered the Teriyaki Burger, and Lily's got the Super Star.

"Because it's unhealthy to eat this shit every day," I frown over at Salter as everyone is deliciously digging into their burgers.

"We as Servants have no need to worry about nutrition," Salter says quite smugly. So smugly, in fact, that I swear she's smiling through her burger.

"That's true, but I still need to."

"Hmm, Master, would it make you happy if I tried my hand at crafting a burger like this for dinner?" Tamamo asks, studying her burger just before she bites into it.

"I thought you really only know how to cook Japanese food?"

"W-Well, if I'm going to live in another country, it'd be for the best if I learned a thing or two about its cuisine, right?" Tamamo tries to reason...which is a solid reason. "Nothing wrong with expanding my knowledge of cooking!"

"True."

"Master, this has been brought to my attention since our return to your home, but it would appear that with every Singularity that we visit, we will procure more and more Servants who will join our cause," Artoria reminds me. "Do you intend on housing and feeding _all_ of them?"

"As many as I can, yeah," I nod matter-of-factly, wiping some barbecue sauce off my lips with a napkin.

"Um, won't that be a huge burden on your financial situation?" Lily speaks up too, saying what Artoria wants to say for her. Truly they are the same person, despite their age difference. "And you said that you've been more used to having to only look after yourself...and now all of a sudden..."

"But that's why we have Chaldea," I point out. "If it gets to the point where I start having trouble looking after everyone, then that's what we have Chaldea for. Even now, my house isn't big enough to stuff nineteen people in, that's absurd."

I pull out the hanging bit of the onion fry that's inside my burger and pop it in my mouth. It's a bit drier than usual, the onion itself, that is, but it's hard to tell, since it's been a while since I last stopped by Carl's Jr.

"And I'm more well-off than I give off. I tend to save my money; I don't really have much to really spend it on. Food, utility, gas, just the basic stuff. Everything else for the most part goes straight into my savings."

But even as I say that, the familiar feeling of discomfort creeps up the back of my neck. Every time I've said something along those lines, whether it's been to friends or fellow business associates or partners, I always ask myself in the back of my mind: for what? Save for what? I'm a single guy who's not really interested in starting a family, and the only hobbies I really have are maybe watching some anime here and there if I feel like it and video games, though I've been playing less and less video games steadily over the years since high school; I wouldn't be surprised if there comes a point where I just stop playing any games altogether. Other than my dad, I don't have any other known family, so it's not like I need to support anyone related to me. And being a mage who uses fake magecraft and unconventional fighting styles and methods that can very easily get me killed at some point, it's not like I can expect myself to live for very long. If anything, I'm at my prime now, being in my early twenties and armed with the freedom to do whatever. That won't stay like that forever, definitely not in another ten or so years.

So is there a point to saving money? When I have nothing to save for?

Perhaps not. But even if I were to fully convince myself that this is the case, I simply have nothing to spend it on. Give it away to charity, maybe? But I know that there've been recent scandals with some reputable charities, so even that's not a great idea. I do pay tithe every month, maybe that's an option, but -

"Master, here, say ahhhh ~ "

I look up, having been somewhat absentmindedly chewing on my burger while engrossed in my thoughts, and Tamamo is reaching over the table a little, offering me a french fry dipped in ketchup. So I oblige her and eat it off her fingers, causing her to squeal a little in delight.

"Master, my appetite is not yet satisfied," Salter beams at me with a perfectly stone-cold look, and I glance down at her tray, which is now holding nothing but burger wrappers and an empty french fry cup/thing/whatever they call it. "I believe another order is in...order."

"Boooo," I call over at Salter jokingly at her incredibly lame pun. "Boooo, get off the stage."

"Only if you allow me another round of this burger."

I look around at the others as I withdraw my wallet. "Anyone else want more?"

"Yes ~ !" Lily enthusiastically raises her hand, her food-induced happiness blinding me once more with radiance. To my (not that great) surprise, Artoria also juts up her hand, though how willingly she does it kind of throws me for a loop, as she's been a bit shyer about asking for seconds before. I guess that's just what burgers to do people like the Artoria's.

So I hand them a ten dollar bill each and slide out of our table so that Lily and Artoria can slip out, and they all scurry over to the counter to order another round of meals, though they all scurry with such magnificent dignity that it's almost admirable, truly a gift of Britain.

"How was your work today, Master?" Tamamo asks me, sounding more personal now that we're back to being alone together again. Even though I'm not too on board with this whole being Tamamo's husband thing, now that I think about it, I do feel a bit bad for her because what she enjoys most is being with me, and obviously with so many more Servants with us, especially with Kiyohime in the mix of things, she just doesn't really have that opportunity anymore.

"Work? Same as ever, really," I sigh a bit.

"Really? It feels like you've been a bit busier ever since we returned from the Singularity. Is that just me?"

"Er, no...I do have something that I'm dealing with right now, but I'll take care of it tomorrow and I won't ever have to worry about it past that point."

"Is it in regards to that phone call you had with that, uh, that Hal Yoalsin-san?"

I nod. "I'll explain when the others return; I'll have to bring a few of you guys with me for that, just in case."

"Okies ~ "

Tamamo slurps on some of her Brisk Raspberry tea.

"Oh, I heard from Siegfried-san that Elizabeth-san had a bit of an episode earlier with you and that Dragon Witch-san, yes?" Tamamo mentions, but she drops her voice considerably and sheds her usual playful tone along with it.

"Yeah. Liz was trying to convince me to buy her a studio set so that she could start producing music, by the looks of it. Does she even know how?"

"I...uh, I _doubt_ it..." Tamamo chuckles awkwardly, speaking slowly and uncertainly. "When we're summoned, we Servants come with the knowledge of the modern era and the language of our Master, at the very least, but given the fact that this is a very strange Holy Grail War, to say the least, maybe a few things've been a bit skewed."

"I'm just surprised she even knows about music production at all. And about idols. Why the hell does she wanna be an _idol?"_

Tamamo's facial expression goes from somewhat uncomfortable straight to crestfallen.

"Master, do you know about Elizabeth-san's history?" she asks quietly.

"I'd heard of her before, but I did some research when we got back home to refresh my memory. Evidently, she's an infamous Hungarian countess who kidnapped upwards of hundreds of young women with the help of four collaborators to torture and kill them, spawning stories about how she bathed in their blood or something after her death."

Tamamo nods. "Correct. But by chance, do you know how she died?"

I wrack my brains, because I know I've read about that, too.

"I think...she died in solitary confinement? She was imprisoned in Čachtice Castle some time after being arrested and died about five years later."

"Hm, close enough. I suppose this world's history doesn't go into the details behind it."

"So there's more to it?"

"Not much more, but yes, there is more. When she was imprisoned there, Elizabeth-san soon discovered that she couldn't stand being all alone in that castle, so she started screaming and begging for attention from her wardens and her jailers, who in turn became so annoyed that they boarded up the whole castle and only left one opening so that they could give her food and whatnot."

I connect the dots from there. So basically, Elizabeth is a giant attention whore - but then again, she's not the only one.

"So she wants to be an idol because that way, tons of people can give her attention, and like that, she'll have all the attention that she wants," I figure.

Caster nods.

"Please do take care of her, Master," she murmurs with plenty of melancholy. "She's definitely a handful, and going about dealing with her is nothing short of tricky. And with people like me and Kiyo-chan around, and perhaps more to come, she'll have to contend with even more rivals, so to speak, even if they themselves don't realize it. So please make sure to look after her properly."

I take a sip from my own soft drink. "Yeah, that just goes without saying," I agree, "but I do explicitly remember you not getting along very well with her. So pardon my asking, but...in light of that, why are _you_ of all people insisting that I take care of her?"

"We...we have our differences," Tamamo says quickly. "You can tell, right, Master? And not just that, but we've had lots of...run-ins in previous Holy Grail Wars. I can tell you for a fact that Elizabeth-san does not like my company one bit."

"So what about you? You kept acting real mean towards her back in the Singularity when we first found her and Kiyohime, and now you're giving this impression that you wanna be sympathetic to her. Maybe it's no use asking you this directly, but which side of you towards Liz am I supposed to believe?"

"The sympathetic side, of course!"

Tamamo raises her voice somewhat, straightening up her back in response, but she senses that she's getting a bit too worked up and composes herself.

"I understand that maybe with the way I've acted towards her in front of you might bar you from believing me, but...if this simple fox can somehow convince you, half of the reason why I did so was because I was putting up an act. Elizabeth-san is a good girl deep down, I know this, and I wish for there to be one day that you can see that too, or that Elizabeth-san will show you that side of her as well. But Elizabeth-san detests me so much that if I were to treat her in any way other than how I am now, she will become confused. Her image of me is one of a nasty rivalry, an enemy, even, if it weren't for the fact that we now both serve the same Master. So to act as anything other than that will deeply confuse her, and she will not know how to act. For as much as she hates me, she clings onto that relationship that she has with me with such stubbornness that if that were to be taken away from her, it will be as if her self itself will also crumble with it."

This dragon lizard girl has a problem. And it sounds like Tamamo's part of the reason why she turned out this way. Goddamn it, Tammy.

"But how do you know that for a fact? You never tried being nice to her for a change?" I question back, munching on a french fry of my own. The Sabers are sure taking their sweet time with ordering.

"I _can't_ , that's the thing!" Tamamo insists. "I know Elizabeth-san well enough to know that being nice to her at this point will do her no favors."

"You don't know until you try."

"But, Master, it's just not that simple."

Probably not. Who am I to sit here and dictate Tamamo how to behave towards Liz, being the Neanderthal simpleton that I am when it comes to emotional stuff. But at the same time, it's just...Tamamo's side of this is a bit weird. These are Heroic Spirits I'm dealing with, to be fair, but still, it's a bit weird.

"So what's the other half?" I ask.

"Huh?"

"You mentioned the first half of the reason why you were acting the way you were to Liz, what's the other half?"

"Oh. Um..." Tamamo bows her head a little, averting her gaze. "I...I kind of...don't like her either, mikon..."

I stare at her with narrowed eyes.


	57. Black Cat

We're on our way back from eating at Carl's Jr., and since I'm a little bored of what's on the radio, I've switched to my phone's music playlist instead and have it playing over Bluetooth through the car stereo.

 _"Brave shine, te wo nobaseba mada  
Stay the night, kizu darake no yoru  
You save my - "_

"You must love this kind of music, Master," Tamamo notes.

I glance over at her. "I thought that was a given. I've always been playing music everywhere we go, so..."

"Well, I was talking about this kind of music in particular. Ever since it started playing, you were whistling it..."

She's right, I was whistling it to myself the moment the lyrics started playing.

"I-I like it a lot too, Master!" Lily chirps from behind Tamamo's seat.

"Thanks."

"Actually, Master...!?" Tamamo, getting all excited all of a sudden without warning, turns to me with sparkling eyes.

"What?"

"Could it be - could it be that you know how to sing?!"

I give her a super incredulous look.

"How the hell did you jump from me whistling along to a song all the way to that?"

"Because, because, because!" Tamamo waves her hands around. "Your whistling was really good! It was perfect the whole way, and you didn't mess up at all!"

Two things to say the same, I see.

"But whistling and singing are two different things, though," I try to reason with her. "Just because I'm good at whistling doesn't mean I'm good at singing. And besides, I don't know why you would complement on someone's _whistling_ skills of all things..."

"What, you don't want your wife to tell you that you're good at doing things?" Tamamo pouts, giving me a look of a rejected fox.

I just shrug. "I've grown up really only ever hearing the opposite...so I'll admit that suddenly having someone tell me something like that of all things is a bit...different."

"Hmph, aren't you the edgy little Master."

"But it's true, though."

"Like what, then?"

"Mm, things like 'your magecraft doesn't belong in this world, heretic', 'your father was a failure of a father', 'you won't live past twenty', 'your magic isn't capable of anything significant', generic shit like that." I pause, trying to remember another one that's bubbled up to the surface of my thoughts. "Oh, here's one of my favorite ones, 'go fuck yourself, you piece of trash virgin'."

Salter snorts into her arm, by the sounds of it, and when I glance up at my rearview mirror, I catch a glimpse of Artoria, who's sitting in the middle passenger seat, elbow Salter in the side of her arm.

"Master, don't you worry about those kinds of people," Tamamo says rather softly, clashing hard with her usual upbeat, genki-as-fuck personality. "All you need to do is point me in their direction, and you won't hear those kinds of things from them for the rest of your life. Oh, I know! They should all eat moldy bread and suffer from horrible dysentery for three weeks! Or maybe that isn't harsh enough...?"

Eat moldy bread and suffer dysentery...that's quite a creative insult. But to a guy whose insults usually amount to little more than "bitch", "bastard", fuck", and "motherfucker", I guess it's not too hard to come up with more creative profanity.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Thanks for your concern, though."

"D-Don't worry about it!? How could I, as your Servant and wife, just stand by and let such ignoble lowlives throw such terrible words at y - "

"Because most of them are already dead."

"Eh."

Tamamo stops short.

"How prudent of you, Master," Salter remarks behind me.

"I knew you'd approve of that," I smile up at Salter through the rearview mirror.

Tamamo nods heartily in agreement as well. "Yes, yes, good. I thought you'd be one of those Masters who'd let trash cans vomit their contents at you as much as they'd like, like a certain Saber-san who is now with us."

I think that's supposed to be a shot at Siegfried.

"Er, nah, you don't have to worry about that either," I shake my head with a wry grin. "I've met my fair share of unpleasant people, and I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where if they say or do things that I don't particularly like, I have the freedom to deal with them in whatever way I want."

"Is that the power of your status as the Resident Guardian of this region, Master?" Artoria asks.

"Not entirely, but yes..."

I was about to comment more, but something up ahead catches my eye as we're driving down the road that leads us into the front gate of my townhouse complex, so I slow the white Mercedes down to buy myself some seconds of time to squint ahead at what I see on the road itself.

That's a streak of blood. And to the right of it is a black cat.

"We're stopping here for a sec," I say sharply to the girls just before swerving just as sharply to the right, parking along the side of the lane that's designated for parking, as this whole road is surrounded by other townhouse complexes and the sides of the lanes are used for resident or guest parking.

"What's going on? Is there a problem, Mas...?" Lily tries to ask, but I've already stopped the car, shut off the engine, and swiftly stepped out to hurry over to the cat, casting Presence Concealment on our immediate vicinity as well.

"Oh dear..." Lily gasps lightly in horror.

I lift up the black cat off the side of the side and onto the side of the sidewalk instead. Its lower legs and torso are horribly crushed, along with its bones and internal organs.

Tamamo, who's immediately sprung to action as soon as she's also stepped out of the car to see what I'm doing, crouches down next to me on the side of the lane next to the sidewalk and reaches out her hands.

"Can you save it?" I ask Caster, checking the cat's vitals. The cat is still alive, but a few more minutes and it won't be.

"I can, but it'll be close," Tamamo murmurs, concentrating greatly on applying her magic to rapidly regenerate the crushed tissue so that the cat is able to sustain itself.

While Tamamo is healing the cat's severe wounds, I move over to Tamamo's other side and set my hands on both the top of the cat's head and its upper torso, and I channel my mana to my hands to invoke my powers of fire. Very carefully, however, because I don't want to ignite my hands - just to have them heat up and provide warmth to the cat that it's losing through bleeding out. This area is used to be a forest long ago, and even when towns like this started popping up, a lot of the forest areas still remain, as some of the major roads that lead up here cut through them; as an unfortunate consequence, roadkill is pretty frequent around here, with poor raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and possums being the major victims of roadkill from what I've seen. So it's strange that a cat like this ended up getting hit by a car, but I guess it was gonna happen eventually. What's most surprising about this is that the cat was still alive when we reached it; usually roadkill like this is already long past redemption.

"W-Will it live, Master...?" Lily asks, and her voice is shaking; when I glance up at her, she's definitely tearing up, but she's trying her best to hold it back.

"No idea; Tamamo'll be the judge of that," I reply, patting the cat's head slowly and rubbing its side, but in reality I'm basically only grazing its fur; I'm afraid that if I press too hard, I'll end up suffocating the cat when its life is already hanging on by a thread.

After some tense ten minutes, Tamamo's light purplish mana fades away as she takes a short sigh.

"Whew ~ I've stabilized its condition, Master," Caster reports. "I'm much more experienced in healing humans, so that took longer than it needed to..."

"Thanks for your work," I pat her on the shoulder in congratulations, and I recheck the cat's condition. Its lower torso looks much better now, but not only is there a ton of blood still matting its fur, but the cat itself is undoubtedly extremely fatigued and in no condition to just get up and run off on its own and be on its merry way like nothing happened. Humans are resilient; animals are not as such. "Alright, let's get back into the car. Tamamo, can you hold the cat?"

"Eh? We're taking it back with us?" Tamamo asks, a little surprised.

"What, you thought I'm just gonna let it sit here?"

"Well, it's already healed, right? It can just rest for a day, and...and..."

But under my sharp, silent gaze, Tamamo silences herself. I gingerly pick up the cat, and the girls all pile back inside the car. Once Tamamo gets in shotgun, I carefully place the cat on her lap before kneeling down quickly on the edge of the small amount of blood splatter on the road to set the blood on fire after checking that no cars are coming on either side of the road. Once the blood's all dried up and removed, I get back inside the car myself.

"You would go so far to save even the life of a cat?" Salter muses.

"Even if it's not my official responsibilities, I like to think that my role as Resident Guardian also extends to whatever public utility I can offer. I'm using my judgment here and saying that taking care of that cat until it's recovered is something that I should do." I disable my Presence Concealment spell and turn the car to the left, piloting it back onto the lane and stopping at the next intersection, which leads to the gate that then leads us into my house within.

"This is a very noble deed, Master," Artoria says reassuringly. "Not many would go out of their way like this to save the life of an animal in distress."

"Noble, huh."

"Yes."

"Hm. If you say so."

* * *

Jeanne drapes a small blanket that I've managed to dig up from the bedroom that Mash uses upstairs, a little kiddie blanket with cute little rocket ships on it, over the uneasily sleeping cat that I've set on top of a layer of more folded blankets. I'm unfortunately not equipped to properly look after a cat for reasons I'm pretty sure I mentioned in the past, so I'm doing my best to make do. For now, we've brought the cat into the living room, and I've turned down the TV for the time being so that it won't agitate the cat.

"A cat?" Liz asks while Jeanne, remaining seated next to the sleeping cat whose tail has been twitching slightly ever since we brought it back home, places her hand on top of the cat's head to pet it while setting her other hand against her heart and murmuring a quiet prayer in French.

"Found it on the side of the road just outside the complex," I explain to her and the other Servants who're hovering around, curious at what's going on. "Tamamo managed to save it, so I've brought it back."

"I-I wasn't the one who saved it, that would be you, Master," Tamamo quickly says, evidently embarrassed that I'm giving her the credit for it. "You were the one who saw it first and made the decision to save it - "

"But you were the one who healed it," I point out.

"Couldn't you have healed it too?"

I shake my head. "Remember, this - " I pop a flame on my left hand as a demonstration, "only heals me. I can heal injuries but primarily through magical surgery."

Glancing down at the cat, now that Jeanne's done with her small prayer, I set my hand to touch the cold wooden floor next to the layer of blankets now serving as the recovering cat's bed to silently create a small heating rune. My dad used to use those Asian electric heating pads that you sit on or lay down on to heat up your butt or your back or something, and I got the idea from that and created a rune that would serve the same role, except I can tune the heat to my exact liking. With the rune, I can set it at a temperature that'll heat up the blankets to be just right for the cat.

"Senpai, here," Matthew calls, kneeling down and setting a plastic bin full of warm water and a hand towel floating inside that I've asked her to go fetch from the bathroom nearby.

"Thanks."

Now armed with the bin of water and the towel, I pick up the latter, wring out as much of the water as I can til the towel can no longer drip any water haphazardly, and I peel the blanket back so that I can dry the blood off the cat's lower torso where it's been hit. I make sure to dig underneath the fur a bit, too, since there's sure to be blood starting to cake the base of the fur, against the cat's skin.

"Senpai, I thought...I thought you said you'd never taken care of pets before," Matthew points out curiously.

"Never said anything about not being able to take care of them," I murmur. "Though, this is just real basic stuff. Nothing special about this."

"Now, now, Master, there's no need to be so reserved," Jalter laughs over from the couch. I give her a quick glance before returning my gaze back down on the black cat.

"Not sure what that's supposed to mean," I grumble.

"Nothing special? Is that what you really think?" Jalter smirks. "You're performing such a noble deed! Why don't you take more pride in that? You humans love doing that, right? You set out to perform good works like what you're doing now so that you can feel good about yourselves, that you can tell yourselves when you go to sleep at night that - "

"Jalter, please!" Jeanne, turning around at her evil twin sister, implores with her, but Jalter snaps right back at her,

"Shut up, you fucking Holy Maiden! That you've done something good today. People always hide that part about them performing good works and deeds, and personally, I'm sick and tired of it, and I'd hate to see my Master fall into that same trap. Declare it, Master! Declare to us that you're proud of saving and looking after that cat! Let your nobleness and altruism fully dictate your words!"

I keep washing the cat's fur carefully, not even bothering to give her another glance. I take a moment to dip the towel back into the water, rubbing the blood out and wringing the towel again tightly to rinse and repeat, almost literally.

"...what, you're not even gonna say anything?" Jalter clicks her tongue in disappointment. "Sheesh, you're boring, Master. You're not even gonna tell me to shut up or anything?"

"Why would I tell you to shut up about something that you're right about?"

Jalter blinks at me.

"...so you agree with me," she frowns.

"Yes."

"Then why don't you do as I suggest?"

"Not my thing."

"Not your thing," Jalter repeats.

I nod, but again without bothering to look over at her.

Then, Jalter just explodes into hysterical laughter.

"Not your thing? _Not your thing?"_ she starts to roar. "What a load of bullsh - "

Snapping my hand up, I fire off a mana bullet like a gunslinger pulling out his revolver in a quickdraw duel. I've trained myself to be able to fire mana bullets like this silently, barring mana bullets fired with more intensity, and so the Servants around me only hear a soft _pfft_ , the sound of air being pushed aside as the mana bullet flies out and bonks Jalter in the forehead. It's not lethal or anything, of course, but I do put enough force behind it to make Jalter's head recoil backwards from the impact to silence her.

"You're waking the cat," I hiss softly, leaning over as the cat stirs uncomfortably before opening a tired light golden eye, looking around at us. Elizabeth doesn't miss this chance to give Jalter a jeering, evil little grin.

"It seems that Master values the well-being of that cat more than yours," Salter, who's been sitting with Jalter ever since we got back home, snickers as Jalter gives her a stern stare.

"Shut up."

"It's okay...Master will take care of you..." Jeanne, after some hesitation, slowly reaches forward and pets the cat warmly, and the cat purrs tiredly and closes its eye again.

I'm still carefully washing the cat's torso, meticulously cleaning all the blood off, when we hear several pairs of footsteps climbing up the stairs, and Artoria, flanked by Kiyohime, Siegfried, and St. George, emerge from the stairs, having returned via portal.

"Master, Lady Da Vinci states that she would like to speak with you in regards to the next Singularity," the King of Knights informs me.

"Okay, I'll head over once I'm done with this," I nod down at the cat.

"You can leave this to me, Master, you should take care of that," Tamamo offers, but I shake my head.

"I'm almost done, might as well finish up."

At this, Tamamo squeals softly. "My, my, Master, you're such a _committed_ man! Just my type ~ "

"Oh dear, is Tamamo-san inconveniencing you again with her antics, Master?" Kiyohime sighs, walking over to Tamamo and grabbing her by the back of her (weird) kimono and proceeding to drag her away. "I shall spare you that inconvenience for now."

"Wait, wait, Kiyo-chan, no, what're you doing - noooooo ~ !" Tamamo cries, but softly, intentionally keeping her voice down so as not to disturb the cat. I watch Kiyohime drag Tamamo away over to the kitchen; Tamamo could easily break out of Kiyohime's grip if she wanted to. I guess she doesn't mind being playful even with someone who's supposed to be her love rival. Well, then again, they _are_ still friends at the end of the day, so...

I finish cleaning the cat swiftly and dip the towel back inside the moderately bloody water of the plastic bin. There wasn't as much blood as I expected, but I suspect that's only because I'm just so much more used to seeing larger quantities of blood spilled at once...which is by no means a healthy expectation whatsoever.

"I'll take care of this, Senpai," Matthew says, grabbing the bin from me. "You should get going and talk to Lady Da Vinci."

"You're not coming with me?" I ask her.

"Wh-Why do you ask?" she responds, blushing just very slightly. "Um...would you like me to?"

"I dunno, it just kinda made sense to me, seeing that you're also directly from Chaldea."

"Allow me, Master," Siegfried offers gently. "I will take care of this for you."

"Uh, sure, then. Just drain this out in the sink in the bathroom right here and squeeze out the towel as much as you can and leave it inside, and just set the bin on the side of the sink." I show Siegfried with a few gestures, since the bathroom is practically right next to us.

"Understood."

"Thanks."

I quickly hurry up the stairs to use the upstairs bathroom in my master bedroom to wash my hands, and I rejoin Matthew and slip through the portal in the basement to find myself in the portal room of Chaldea.

"For there to be another Singularity so soon..." Matthew mumbles worriedly as we exit the portal room to walk over to the Rayshift Room that contains SHIVA.

"Yeah, it's barely been a day since the last one. Let's hope that this one's just a warning, not 'oh, you have to go tomorrow!'"

"Ugh, that...that wouldn't be pleasant in the slightest..." Matthew cringes a little.

"It wouldn't be, but if you don't feel like coming along, you can always stay here."

Matthew balks hard at this. "S-Stay? No! I - I _have_ to go with you!" she protests strongly, and this level of reaction reminds me quite uncomfortably that Matthew is still looking for her former Master and Senpai, Ritsuka Fujimaru. We didn't find her in the previous Singularity, so naturally Matthew's still looking for her.

"Ah, right, uh...my bad," I apologize, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck. I have a habit of making some sort of gesture like that whenever I feel awkward or bad about something.

"Er, there's...there's no need to apologize," Matthew also hesitates, feeling awkward about me feeling awkward. Quite the chain reaction of awkwardness we've got going on. "You're just trying to look out for me..."

"Yeah. I know that you're very strong, but I still don't know you well enough to gauge if you're able to take on consecutive assignments like these."

"I'm not _that_ strong, Senpai...! I'm still in training, and...and Demi-Servants like me aren't as strong as regular Servants..."

Matthew trails off, and I sense that there's more on her mind. I glance down at her very slightly.

"...if I were, maybe I could have saved Fujimaru-senpai before she could be kidnapped by Lev," Matthew broods quietly.

I redirect my gaze forward.

"If that bothers you, then let it motivate you to get stronger," I say firmly. "I assume you've done some type of training, right? To learn how to fight?"

"Um, yes. Though, much of what I know how to do comes from the Demi-Servant who resides in me, in the first place..." Matthew mumbles, again with a hefty tone of awkwardness.

"That's fine, I'm not so much interested in knowing where your skill comes from as I am in knowing that you have room to get stronger. And to do that, in my experience when I was first starting out to become a mage, I relied primarily on things that motivated me to train to get stronger. Use that desire to save your Senpai to fuel you to train harder and get stronger."

"That's what I've tried to do. That's what I've _been_ doing," Matthew says. "But...I'm still nothing compared to you."

"That's not a good thing to do, though."

"Huh? What...what isn't?"

"Comparing yourself to me." I stop in the middle of the corridor, and Matthew, realizing this, follows suit.

"While I believe that the gap in skill and power between us isn't that far apart, it's not good to use a comparison between yourself and someone else as a gauge of your strength," I tell my self-proclaimed underclassman. "Because if you do that, you'll forever chase a goal that you can't reach if the person you're comparing yourself to is, in your eyes, is infinitely stronger than you will ever be."

Matthew lowers her head.

"...I think I understand...what you're trying to get at," she nods slowly, and then she looks back up at me. "For you to know that...it is alright for me to assume that you were in that position once as well?"

I nod back. "Mhm. I stopped because I realized that I'd never be as strong as the person I was comparing myself to, and that I'd always feel unfulfilled having that mentality. So I dropped it."

"Then what do you think now? What motivates you now to train and get stronger? Um, if you still feel that way...?"

"Like I said, I use my own desires to motivate myself to get stronger as the situation dictates. Whether it be to protect someone I care about, though before you all showed up, I admittedly didn't have too many people like that to begin with, or to kill someone I really want dead. I will say that if you're not mentally or emotionally sound enough, that kind of mentality of getting stronger isn't healthy and can backfire really easily, because there's too big a chance that that motivation can evolve into an obsession, and usually when it does, there's no coming back from that."

I point my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the portal room.

"Remember that cat? I didn't save it like Jalter said I did, for some noble or altruistic purpose. I saved it because I wanted to. There's no room for nobleness or altruism with the way I live - only what I want to do, and what I see fit for myself to do. It's an extremely selfish way of living, but I can't complain about it or change it, because it's what's kept me alive as a mage for all this time. It's not much advice I can give as your 'Senpai', or even good advice, but that's the best I can offer, sadly."

Matthew looks rather glum for a moment, but then she opens her eyes wide.

"But...you say that, but you take care of everyone," she points out. "You opened up your house to us. You cooked food for us, you fought alongside us. How is that selfish?"

"Because if you weren't Servants, if you had nothing to do with me, I wouldn't do any of those things," I answer swiftly. "If you all didn't present to me some kind of benefit that I could take from you all that I found useful, I'd kick you all out."

"...oh..."

Matthew certainly looks crestfallen now. I wonder how this conversation took this turn, but I can just blame my shitty social skills for that. I take a step forward and put a hand on Matthew's shoulder.

"But, at the same time, I _would_ like to have you know that those I consider my friends, or at the very least my allies, I do everything in my power to take care of," I say. "I take care of my friends, and they'll take care of me. That's usually held true, too, in the short few years that I've spent as a mage."

Matthew smiles up at me brightly and nods.

"Yes, Senpai! I'll do my best to take care of you, too!"


	58. Elemental

Matthew and I are sitting in the Control Room of SHIVA, with Olga, Marie, and Roman with us. Olga and Da Vinci are seated around us, while Roman is standing before a large projection of a map that's focused on a particular area in the European continent. Matthew is cuddling with Fou on her lap, who's been hanging out here in Chaldea, probably because he's homesick or something.

Roman claps his hands together to start our little meeting.

"Okay! Now that we're all here," Roman says cheerfully while glancing down at me, "August, your next Singularity will be in Italy."

I nod, getting up from my seat. "Mkay, cool."

"Wait, August, wait!" Roman exclaims quickly, stopping me.

"What for? You've already told me what I need to know," I give Roman an odd look.

"But we need to tell you the specifics of your mission, though!"

"Even though you had barely any information for me the last two Singularities in terms of what to expect?"

"That's because we only had one other one before the ones you took care of, and that one was a lot different, obviously!"

"Then you admit that you didn't have a lot of intel on them in the first place."

"Well - "

I wait for Roman to reply, but he just sort of gives up with a weak flail of his arms before they bounce off his front.

"What? That's it?" Olga also asks annoyedly, going off of the interaction between me and Roman. "If that's all you had to say to him, Roman, then why'd you call me here, too?! I'm busy, you know!"

I snort under my breath, but Olga hears this, unfortunately for me.

"Shut up, I actually _do_ have stuff to do, unlike whatever it is that _you_ think!" Olga snaps over at me.

"Okay, okay, that's really all for the Singularity, but we just wanted to talk to you about the questions you had when you were still in the second Singularity in France," Roman hastily explains. "You still want answers to those, right?"

"I do," I nod while sitting back down in my chair and folding my arms across my chest. "But I'm not sure if you have 'em. At least, not so soon."

"We _can_ give you pointers in the right direction, though. Information is power, as they say, and someone like you who runs that kind of business back home should know that very well, I would imagine," Da Vinci remarks matter-of-factly, like she's become Professor Da Vinci for a moment there.

"Then let's start from the beginning, with the questions I asked you the first day of the French Singularity," I begin. "Why was that Singularity so big compared to the first one that I was in? It was like going from zero to fifty or something."

"We don't know that yet, and frankly, I don't think we'll ever know," Roman shakes his head. "SHIVA only tells us the location of a potential Singularity and when it's due to appear. We can't actually look into it before it even appears. That's like trying to see how big a forest fire is before the fire even starts."

Ouch, that hits a bit close to home. Though I don't think Roman intended that as a jab or anything.

"Fine, fair enough. I just figured you and Da Vinci could, like, give us some foresight into these Singularities before we jump in."

"We _can_ inform you of a Singularity's intensity, Agosto," Da Vinci mentions. "Well, we couldn't before because I'd created it just for the purpose of identifying the threat level of future Singularities; it's called the Humanity Foundation Value, or HFV for short. For example, the first one you were in, the one in which you recovered Artoria Pendragon Alter, I ranked at C+. This last one you were in I ranked at B+."

I scratch my head in Da Vinci's direction. I get the feeling the only one who can truly understand the actual value of these rankings is Da Vinci herself.

"So with those as references, you can gauge the future Singularities' intensity levels based on what kind of ranking I give them," Da Vinci says confidently. " _Si?"_

"Uh...sure, yeah, I'll, uh, try my best. I guess I'm just confused as to why or how, even, the Singularities went from the size of a couple square blocks to an entire friggin' country."

"Well, these Singularities _are_ supposed to be, like, Reality Marbles in and of themselves. It shouldn't be a surprise that they _are_ massive in scale," Roman says.

"But the size of a damn _country?"_ I balk a little. "Maybe I'm just inexperienced and what few Reality Marbles I've seen are just tiny as fuck, but those seem way bigger than Reality Marbles."

"And that's why we call them 'Singularities', isn't it?" Olga points out. "That's why we've given them a whole different name so that we can differentiate between those two."

Mm, Olga's got a good point.

"Good point..." I brood a little, and Olga gives me quite the satisfied, haughty smile back like she's won a debate against me. "Then, actually, why was it that we were the only ones who'd been absorbed into the Singularity? Remember the first day when I asked you if you could detect anyone else in the Singularity, and you said that we were the only ones whom you could detect? By this point, I'm gonna assume that I was the only human mage from this era to have entered the Singularity, since it sure as hell didn't seem like anyone else showed up. Why is it that I was the only one where, along with my Servants? Don't you think there's something odd about that?"

Roman nods, also pulling over a rolling swivel chair and sitting on it backwards so that he can slump over the top of the backrest.

"Da Vinci and I talked about it for quite a bit, actually," he nods. "It's definitely weird that you're the only one from the current who's able to enter the Singularities. Especially the last one, where it more or less covered the entire country. We can only assume that there's something about you that allows you to enter them."

"Mm." I ponder this for a moment, and something else regarding this matter pops into my head, but it might be a little awkward to talk about with Matthew right next to me. So I glance over at her quickly and ask, "Matthew, is it alright if I talk about your previous Master? The Fujimaru Ritsuka person?"

Looking a little surprised, Matthew nods quickly, which is a relief, because I would've felt bad if she gave me a sad or depressed expression instead.

"Thanks. So about Matthew's previous Master, how was _she_ able to enter the first Singularity? Matthew's first one, not mine?" I ask.

"Oh, that's because those Singularities were appearing in the actual past," Da Vinci explains. "Any mage who's properly trained and equipped with the task can enter those using Rayshift, Ritsuka being one of them, to resolve them. Remember, SHIVA is more suited to focusing on the past because it detects anomalies that show up in humanity's timeline; it's much easier to do that since we have knowledge of what happened in the past and we can compare anomalies to it accordingly; we don't know what will happen in the present, necessarily, so it's much more difficult to gather information on it pre-emptively."

"Then what happens when a Singularity shows up in the future? I assume Rayshifting doesn't let us do _that?"_

"Theoretically, it shouldn't be possible because we would need a timeline for a future that, to us, does not exist yet. Or, er, no, that's a bad way of putting it, it _does_ exist, it's just that we don't know about it."

"But the future actually does exist? Like a timeline for it?"

"Oh yes, absolutely. The evidence for it is in the fact that certain Servants have a skill called Clairvoyance, which allows them to see into the future. I believe one of your own Servants right now, Jeanne d'Arc, the holy Saint herself, has a version of it called Revelation, but it is much weaker than it should be because of the nature of her summoning into the last Singularity."

"Huh." I rub my chin while tilting my head a little, intrigued by this, since this is new information to me. "But if the timeline for the future exists, yet Servants have the power to see into it or something, doesn't that imply that the future has the potential to be changed?"

"Yes, of course. Because we do not know the timeline for the future, it can be treated like a blank slate for us to write. Though, there's nothing that says that it can be changed in the first place."

"Then isn't that contradictory?"

"Perhaps so, but then again, if you try to change the future because of the aid of a Servant's Clairvoyance skill or another future foresight skill or ability, would that really be changing the future? Or perhaps the future was you changing the future?"

The same thought was going through my head the moment Da Vinci started to talk about it.

"Yeah, also a good point, but - that's besides the point," I murmur. "In any case, it's safe to assume for now that there's something about me that lets me enter these Singularities and few else."

"Erm, for _now_ , I suppose, but do keep in mind that that might only be because we just don't know a whole lot about these present-day Singularities," Roman reminds me.

"Doctor, could it be because I was the only other one to have been in a previous Singularity? And that by going with me, Senpai here was able to be made privy to them?" Matthew asks.

"Ehhh, I hesitate to say that that's the case..." Roman scratches his bangs. "For some things it works like that, but the Singularity you went to with Ritsuka just isn't the same as the one you went to with August. I won't count that possibility out, but it just seems unlikely. Since they appeared in two different points in time, they aren't even the same in nature, to start."

"I see..."

The room goes silent for a moment or two.

"Is that it?" I ask, breaking it.

"Er..." Roman glances over to Da Vinci, who simply smiles back at him.

"Actually, hold it right there," Olga also stands up with me when I get up from my seat to return home. "I have something to talk to you about."

"Is it about my paycheck?" I ask dryly, faking a tone of hopefulness.

"No! What's with you and your paychecks!?"

"Oh, I wonder," I keep up my dry tone of voice while also rolling my eyes with exaggerated reaction.

"It's not that! It's your powers!" Olga insists rather angrily, now that I notice.

"What, what're you so mad about," I give Olga a rather scornful look, one that asks her why she's even talking about that of all things.

"You have powers that you didn't list in your profile back when you signed on with us!" the director jabs her finger at me, and for a second I think that she's about to shoot a Gandr shot at me, because it's what she did a couple times before. "Where'd all this fire stuff come from? You said that you were a Mage who used guns and a 'personally crafted' style of magecraft, not that fire stuff! I heard from Lady Jeanne about it!"

"You ask me about that, yet you don't wanna talk about when you're gonna fuckin' pay me?" I snort obnoxiously again. "I see how it is."

" _Okay_ , enough of that! I'm your employer, listen to me, damn it!" Olga fumes, and now I can start hearing genuine anger creeping into her voice, as if the stomping of her foot isn't already a clear enough indicator of that. "You know that this is a breach of contract, right? You failed to list that as part of your abilities on your profile!"

"A risk that I took, admittedly," I concede. "I didn't expect to have to use those powers, but I guess it's too late for that now."

"Why didn't you tell me about it in the first place?!" Olga demands.

"Because I didn't expect to be working with you for a long time, to be honest. I signed on with you all earlier this year, and all the previous stuff was easy, not this Singularity crap. So now, not only do I realize that I'm basically in it for the long haul whether I like it or not, but I also have you harpin' over my ass about why I didn't tell you everything about myself. What do you wanna know next, Olga? My business email password? My bank account statements? My Social Security number?"

"We ask for an exact description of your powers so that we can use them to accurately gauge whether or not you're suited for a particular task or assignment," Olga frowns deeply at me with extreme dissatisfaction, clearly not appreciating my sarcasm. "If we'd've known that, we could've used you for some other assignments before this!"

"Like what?" I challenge.

"Like going after a few mages who've been causing trouble for Chaldea!" Olga retorts, flicking her face in another direction and folding her arms all tsundere-like, just with no dere in her at all at the moment. "Mages and other people trying to spread lies among the magical communities here in Europe to undermine Chaldea's reputation because they don't like my family, especially my father. I could have had you go after them, capture them, and bring them back here so that you could help me interrogate them!"

"Interrogation I can do, but capture them? How do you suppose _this - "_ I ignite my hand with a handful of flame to show Olga, "is gonna help me capture people when I could just hunt them down with the shit I listed on my profile? Is it 'cause you think I'm a lot stronger than you thought I was now, just because of that?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

"Because throwing fire around isn't exactly something that I can hide easily as a mage. In controlled quantities, sure, but if you're givin' me a fuckin' hit list and tellin' me to track those people down and expectin' me to torch people out so that I can drag their asses back, that ain't happening. And I've had more mages than I bother to count tell me before that fire elementals were like basic bitch shit, so how strong can it really be?"

"Look, you don't know how powerful elemental magic can be! You beat a damn Servant with your own in the last Singularity, didn't you?" Olga fires back. "The fire elemental is potentially strong and you know it!"

"Potentially," I narrow my eyes at Olga.

"Well, it's standard among the elementals that the Mages' Association considers - "

"And I'm supposed to give a fuck about them?"

Letting out a loud groan, Olga just swiftly pivots and storms out of the room, completely fed up with talking to me. I unapologetically watch her stomp off, and once the door shuts down after her, I turn around to face the others.

"What's with her, asking me about my powers 'n shit?" I grumble, putting out the flame in my hand. "And for the record, Olga wouldn't have changed shit even if I told her."

Da Vinci just starts giggling for some reason, so I look at her funny.

"Don't tell her that I told you this, but Olga has been - " Da Vinci starts to say, but Roman cuts her off nervously, blabbing over her,

"Wait, wait, Da Vinci, are you sure - ? If Olga finds out, she's gonna throw a fit again and destroy another room with her Gandrs!"

"Oh, it's fine, and besides, it's not like _you_ were the one fixing it," Da Vinci pouts at Roman.

"Uh...sorry about that, I was out at the time, I told you!" Looking guilty, the Doctor defends himself, though with lackluster enthusiasm.

"Anyways, it's fine." Da Vinci then turns to me. "Olga has recently been trying to learn fire elemental magics. Evidently her Elemental Affinity is Fire, but it seems she can't produce spells that would be indicative of that."

I tilt my head again in wonder. "But Olga's a damn good mage, I thought. Or, that's what I heard," I correct myself quickly. "Her Gandrs and other spells are solid and well-trained, and she knows her shit, as much of it that I can understand for being a fake mage. Why can't she pull out spells that go with her Elemental Affinity?"

"We do not know, but my hypothesis is that it is the same reason why she is a great Mage but a terrible Master," Da Vinci sighs. "Before Chaldea began to train its own Masters to resolve the Singularity threat, Olga volunteered herself to be the prototype Master to her father. They would have went through with it, if it weren't for the fact that they discovered that Olga in fact had downright bad compatibility as a Master."

"Her? Bad compatibility?" I balk harder this time. "The hell's that possible? I wasn't even born a mage and I'm a Master, why can't she be one too?"

"Perhaps you should ask her, and hope that she doesn't fire another Gandr at you when she sees you," Da Vinci giggles.

"Then never mind that idea. How long 'til you think the next Singularity? We got an ETA?"

"Soon, I think..." Roman muses, trying to narrow down this vague ETA.

"Soon, TM?"

"Probably with two weeks. Probably not this week, but sometime during the next," Roman specifies.

"Hm, okay, gives me some time to work with, then. More accurate than the ETA you gave me for the last Singularity, that's for sure."

"Well, now that it's detected, what, two Singularities, SHIVA's adapting so that it can get better at pinpointing these new Singularities," Roman says rather proudly, I notice by the way he sort of stands up tall when he mentions this, and when he speaks again, he starts talking like a grand announcer for something. "So don't worry, Mr. Il! We will improve our support capabilities for when you and your Servants are in battle!"

"Okay, Matt Mercer."

With our little debriefing that wasn't really a debriefing now over, I bid Da Vinci and Roman goodbye and head back to the portal room to return home with Matthew in tow carrying Fou and nuzzling the top of his furry head.

"Senpai, um, if it's alright with you, may I ask about your powers?" my self-proclaimed underclassman asks slowly.

"Sure. I don't know if I'll be able to answer them adequately, but we'll see."

"Erm..." Matthew hesitates, since the way I worded that was really weird and I know it, but she starts off with, "are your flames part of your fake magecraft? Because it doesn't...it doesn't seem the same. They don't feel like the same magic."

I shake my head. "I'm fairly certain that my elemental and my magecraft are two separate things. I can integrate them together for a spell or two, but for the most part they're segregated."

"Then...if you have a fire elemental, then wouldn't that mean that you actually are a mage by birth?"

Rubbing my chin again, I ponder over this again, because I've definitely thought about this myself years ago when I first discovered magecraft.

"I've thought about that, and at first I'd wanna say yes, but the things that stop me from going with that conclusion a hundred percent are the facts that I don't know anything about my family history, as in knowing whether or not I'm from an actual family of mages, and that I'm terrible with actual spells. Like, 'real' magecraft stuff. I've tried my hand at that, but I just suck with them." I end my explanation with a helpless shrug.

"Mmm..." Matthew murmurs, also thinking while nuzzling the top of Fou's head again. "I've been hearing from some of the Servants like Lady Tamamo and Lady Salter that your mana is...odd, that there is something odd about your mana that they can't quite get a hold of."

"I think Tamamo's mentioned that a couple times to me too, though none of the times she's mentioned that to me seemed like it was anything serious," I note. "I guess she was just playing it off. But just because my mana seems a bit off doesn't mean that's any indication that I'm some sorta super-mage in the making, 'cause that's not it. It could be the result of me using a fake magecraft system, for all I know. They're all used to working with or fighting against actual mages, right? That's just natural for them to think there's something off about me."

"Um, just to refresh my memory, why is it that you call your magecraft fake again, Senpai?"

"Because it's a style or system or whatever of magic that's designed so that even normal people could use it," I repeat, though it's not really repeating at the moment. "The problem is that it's really inefficient in its mana consumption, so the vast majority of normal people can't use it because it'll just sap them of their mana too fast, and if they're not careful, it could be lethal. Well, theoretically, anyway - my dad never bothered teaching it to someone else other than me."

"Do you think that's because he knew that you had the amount of mana that was needed to be able to learn it?"

"Maybe. At the time I didn't bother asking him since I didn't know any better, but in hindsight, it would'a been nice if I was able to ask him that, yeah."

"Is there a way to know now, or...?"

"Nope. Not very likely I'll learn anything from him anymore."

Matthew falls deathly silent all the way to the portal room, and when we enter it to warp back home, she stops just past the door.

"I'm sorry, Senpai," she apologizes out of the blue, and for a second, I think she's about to perform a tearful betrayal or something, but luckily for me, she doesn't do that. Instead, she continues with, "I've been asking you some insensitive questions, especially about your father. I didn't mean to, um, open up old wounds, so to speak, in case that's what I was doing just earlier..."

"Nah, don't worry. It's not really a wound of sorts, to begin with..."

Petting Fou once, I step through the portal with Matthew and disappear from Chaldea, back to my home.


	59. Sunset

**A/N:**

 **Kiba-Avalon: chapter 50, control F and search for the word "grail" and you'll find where the Grail is and how they got it.**

 **Aggoden Bedd: appreciate the feedback. While I can't guarantee that I'll fix the sometimes-awkward grammar (combination of schooling and my own occasional laziness) or the semi-slow plot (a result of my desire to write some degree of detail), I can work on cutting down on the whole trying to make my OC less powerful than he actually is. There's been enough downplaying already, you guys aren't stupid to not pick up on that by now. I hope.**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

"Master, who is that in the picture?" Lily asks.

Having returned home and joined the Servants in my living room watching a game of basketball between the Lakers and the Spurs, I turn to where Lily is pointing while munching on some white cheddar Cheez-Its. She's pointing to a set of eight pictures on the top of the piano that sits quietly like a forgotten rock in the living room with us, just pushed up against the wall and acting more like furniture than an actual piece of musical equipment.

"Which one, sorry?" I ask. Artoria and Salter also glance in the same direction, curious as to what Lily is speaking up about. Jeanne and Marie are watching over the injured black cat like a pair of worried parents, with Sanson sitting with them as if he's the doctor on call in case the cat starts having more problems.

"Well, um, all of them, I suppose...?" Lily murmurs, scanning all of them. "There're people whom I don't recognize, and...and you're only in one of them..."

She points to the one on the far left, the furthest left.

"Is that your father?" she guesses.

"Yep, that's my dad," I nod, glancing at the man with the slightly long face and clean-shaven chin, though he looks like he's just done with life by the point in time of the picture, and I'm standing with him, wearing his old aviators on the top of my head, which is very strange because I'm still wearing glasses in that picture. I'm not particularly proud of that photo that was taken of us because of that fact.

"Lily, it is impolite for us to be intruding on Master's personal business..." Artoria worriedly objects in a hushed voice, like a mother trying to quiet her child in the middle of a lecture or something, though I don't know why a mother would even bring her child into a lecture to begin with. Bad analogy.

"Eh, it's fine," I quickly wave my hand. "Yeah, that was my dad, everyone else in the other pictures was his family."

Slowly but surely, a chilling air follows my words as their exact phrasing starts to sink in.

"'Was'?" Matthew asks, very slowly to match the sudden chill of the air.

"'His' family?" Martha asks as we hear a muffled rush of flames come from the kitchen - presumably Kiyohime and Tamamo arguing over what to make for dinner tonight.

"Yeah. He had a family of five - two sons, one daughter, his wife, and himself."

"But...why does it sound like you weren't part of it?"

"Because I wasn't." I munch on a handful of Cheez-Its at once because I'm a bit hungry, though I should really save my appetite for dinner. Though, that won't be for another couple hours since I'm planning on showing my Servants the sunset over at Meridian Park.

By this point, the Servants in the living room - Matthew, the three Artoria'teers, Jeanne, Jalter, Marie, Mozart, Sanson, d'Eon, Siegfried, Martha, St. George, Liz, and Gilles - have become privy to the conversation that's abound, and those who've been listening in already are starting to see where this conversation is going. Actually, I'm even amazed my living room can even hold this many people, but we're all sittin' comfy on the couches or on the floor or carpet.

"Then..." Jeanne says hesitantly, "...you must have been...adopted?"

"Yeah. I'm an adopted kid." I munch while watching the Lakers score a point. I haven't kept up with basketball in God knows how long - I remember that my dad used to keep up with various kinds of sports news, but he paid most attention to stuff like tennis and golf, maybe a little football and basketball here and there. I sure as hell don't keep up with any of it, though I have fun sitting down and watching a basketball game here and there.

"I-I can empathize, Master!" Lily says quickly, having grown uncomfortable with the direction in which this conversation has gone. I can tell that she certainly didn't bank on finding out that I'm actually an adopted child. "Um, my father, Uther Pendragon, sent me away under the care of Merlin, and he in turn put me under the care of Sir Ector, my foster father. So, um...I-I know what it feels like..."

"I mean, it wasn't like it was bad or anything," I just shrug. "The worst that ever happened was people calling me a bastard or 'a fuckin' orphan lol' back in school, the people who didn't like me and knew my background."

"Don't feel sorry for him, _petit,"_ Jalter snickers. "He's just trying to invoke sympathy out of you to get closer to you as a Master. It's all just a trick, a trick!"

"And how would _you_ know of these 'tricks'?" I ask Jalter, leaning over to narrow my eyes over at her. I mean this in a joking manner, though my body language and facial expression don't convey that very well, admittedly.

"Oh, I just know. Or are you underestimating my knowledge of this modern era, Master?" Jalter raises her chin all haughty-like, making it seem like she's looking down on me, both figuratively and literally.

"Yes, because I don't expect a fake Servant like you to know shit about a world she's never been in."

 _"TA GUEULE!"_

Jalter immediately leaps out of her seat on the couch, grabbing her black sword from thin air and pointing it down at me, but at the same time, Siegfried, St. George, Martha, Artoria, Lily, and Matthew all leap up to their feet and immediately switch their Servant garbs out of their casuals, as if Jalter is threatening my life or something.

"Touched a nerve there, didn't I," I say calmly, popping another handful of Cheez-Its into my mouth, but I munch on them much more quickly than before to get back to talking again. "Everyone settle down, please, though I do have to warn you again not to blow up my house. I told Liz that earlier today, didn't I?"

"Hey, don't bring _me_ into this, Piggy!" Elizabeth growls indignantly.

"Sorry." I clear my throat, noticing that the Servants still haven't really stood down. "Hm, let's head out to the park now, then."

"N-Now?" Lily asks quickly. "But - But Lady Tamamo said that they were going to get started making dinner..."

"I know. I'll go ask them if they wanna join us; they can always make dinner when they come back." I turn to the direction of the kitchen and call, "Tamamo, Kiyo! We're gonna head off the park now, you wanna join us or stay h - "

Tamamo and Kiyohime are already planted right in front of me even before I can finish my damn sentence.

" - home," I finish anti-climatically, gazing down at the two girls.

"With _you_ , of course!" they both chant in unison.

"Oh, no, Kiyo-chan, please, _feel free_ to stay here and craft everyone some _delicious_ supper to enjoy! I know that you have been wishing to make Master your _signature_ kaiseki, no ~ ?" Tamamo giggles quite maliciously, turning her face over to Kiyohime with eyes closed.

"And you stated that you intended to serve Master your finest shrimp tempura after hearing that he is quite fond of it?" Kiyohime turns smoothly, also reacting in identical fashion.

"Let's determine dinner later, mkay?" I insist strongly.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, I get out of my Mercedes and close the door behind me, walking towards the baseball field again while locking the doors once Lily and Matthew have stepped out as well. The sun is setting, as it's the early evening, though a few people are still lingering about, a small group of old Japanese ladies whom I've noticed like to come here and chat on the picnic tables on some weekdays - it seems like they're talking about their upcoming family plans for Golden Week; I assume they're talking about plans that their families back in Japan are having, as America obviously doesn't celebrate Golden Week.

I can sense everyone stalking me, as they're all in spirit form except for the two girls walking with me. I've also got a minor Presence Concealment spell active, meaning that while normal people can still see me and the two girls, they won't bother us by talking; they'll just naturally avoid us like normal strangers.

"Wow..." Matthew can't help but murmur, and Lily also lets out a gasp of admiration as we near the benches on the far side of the park that overlooks our side of the Pacific Ocean, complete with the sun that's beginning to dip down towards the horizon. And as we near the benches, I expand and intensify the Presence Concealment spell so that the bystanders behind us don't notice a sudden group of people just appear into view all of a sudden out of thin air.

" _Ouah...!"_ Jeanne gasps with sheer happiness as she hurries forward in her casual clothes to get an eyeful of this gorgeous ocean landscape. "It's so beautiful, Master!"

"This is a very good town for some ocean sights," I nod. "There're a few other places like this that offer some great views. One of these days I'll take everyone to them, but for now, this'll have to do for tonight."

"A landscape such as this..." Martha whispers, mesmerized by the picturesque panorama before her as she clasps her hands near her chest. "Surely, God has blessed this land with his beauty..."

"A grand sight indeed, quite fitting for the realm of a king," I hear Vlad approach behind me, and Carmilla, as usual, is joining him. "You have done well, Master. It seems that your invitation to join you has been fulfilling."

"Glad you enjoy it," I grin a little. "I'm just fortunate to live in a place that's nice to live, that's all."

"Indeed, a nice place to live is truly a blessing," Marie agrees, skipping a little over to me and giving me a big, joyful smile that could only befit a queen of France. "Perhaps you know of this already, but never take your home as a place for granted, Master. You never know if one day, it could turn from a wonderful place to live into the exact opposite."

I nod, but more sympathetically. "Speaking from personal experience, I assume?" I ask politely.

Marie nods and gives me a sad smile. I can feel my chest tighten up just a bit, because that sadness is genuine.

"Yeah. I know that one day, I won't be able to live here anymore," I agree with Marie. "And that one day, I'll have to move away to somewhere else. And most likely, compared to this town, the next place that I'll live won't be anywhere near as nice as this."

"Move away? But - but why?" Tamamo, bouncing back to me after sightseeing with Kiyohime, overhears this last bit and grows very concerned.

"Not now, or anytime soon. I'm just saying, when it comes time for me to move away because of whatever reason, you know, Holy Grail War, something with my business, or maybe something that I personally need to take care of, I'll definitely miss this place," I elaborate.

"You sound as if you've already conceded to that notion, Senpai," Matthew notes quietly.

"It's because I mentally have." I adjust my cap by pulling on the visor somewhat. "Every time I look at a sight like this, I tell myself that I need to enjoy it while it lasts, because I may not come back to see it again. Same goes for this town, this lifestyle."

"If I may speak on that matter, Master."

I turn to my right a little, and Siegfried, still wearing his "Through the Fire and Flames" shirt, is gazing off into the ocean.

"Yeah, sure," I give him another polite, professional little grin, since it's very rare that Siegfried speaks up about anything, really.

"I sense that you see more sadness in this landscape than you see happiness. Or perhaps I am reading this incorrectly?" he asks slowly.

I glance back at the ocean view before us. While I never consciously thought of that myself, Siegfried certainly isn't wrong.

"No, I think you're on the right track," I shake my head. "I just never looked at it exactly like that."

Siegfried nods back as well. "It is just that...in a recent Holy Grail War of a different setting, I also realized something...perhaps distantly familiar, even if it is not exactly what you are feeling here. I'm sorry, I felt that I needed to help you see it in that way."

I gaze back at the sun, which is normally dangerous for my eyes but fuck it, I got runes. Siegfried did point out something important, that I feel more sad than happy standing before such a beautiful sight as this. Like I said, I'd bet that I subconsciously knew this, only I never bothered to consciously acknowledge it.

Because if you derive more sadness from something that's supposed to invoke happiness, or at the very least a sense of peace, what's the point of even keeping this place in my memory as anything important? I perhaps can't speak for all of humanity, but as a human, I would like to think that one of our most fundamental, basic desires is to better our own lives in ways we see fit. In my example right now, normally, I should remember this scene as a dear memory that I'm fond of, one that I can think back to and feel comforted by, to bask in its memory and remember warmth, beauty, and calmness, the things that it invokes in me at this very moment.

So to derive sadness instead from it, to eliminate the original reason why I considered this scene important, is a case study in contradiction. Why remember it when it brings you nothing but pain and sadness? Maybe for some people, they like that sort of thing; all power to them, so long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process. But that's not really my thing. But at the same time, I don't know, I can't seem to completely shake off these overarching feelings of sadness whenever I try to fully invest myself mentally into this imagery that should be a pleasant, warm memory that I would love to hold for the rest of the my life, in the event that I really can't come back here anymore in person.

I suppose I can just chalk it up to my propensity to acclimate well to difficult situations. Though, I wouldn't call it just a propensity, I'd go so far as to call it a skill; a skill to be able to first accept a shitty situation and then adapt to it in a way that will help me improve that shitty situation. Perhaps that's bled into my psyche; the ability to adapt, while essential for survival, comes at a cost, and the cost that I paid for it, it seems, is the inability to truly take happiness from something that I should take happiness from. I guess having lived for about three years by myself by this point, with nothing much to work for in terms of personal happiness, doesn't exactly help things either.

Or, perhaps I can take it one or two steps further. Rather than just a skill, for all I know, it could very well be a subconscious desire, an undesirable side effect of being Stockholm-Syndromed into accepting that my situation, even if it is objectively good and fortunate, either is bad or will inevitably take a turn for the worse. Is that just being prepared? Or is that a sign of a twisted mentality that hides behind a facade of preparation? Hard to say; I could stand here and claim that it's the former all I want, but I recognize that self-reflection can only take me so far, and an external input is needed to know more of the truth, should there even be any truth to be discovered.

In any case, I haven't lost my touch with reality so much that I don't understand what Siegfried is trying to say. If I cannot personally justify keeping this memory of this landscape in a positive light, I have no business being here and wasting both my time and my Servants' time.

I'll just have to figure out a way to twist my mentality around about this matter.

I glance about a bit. Seeing all these Servants enjoying this magnificent view, I feel a certain realization hit me.

"Master?" Tamamo asks me, and she's grown very worried looking at my face. "Is there something wrong?"

I scratch the side of my neck a little. "Hm, I just had a bit of a flashback. Nothing big, but - I just remembered that a long time ago, a little while after I was first adopted, my dad took me here to see the sunset, kinda like what we're doing now. He told me that one day, I should try to bring my friends here and watch the sunset together at some point, because we weren't gonna see something like this anywhere else, really."

"Friends..." Siegfried murmurs after me.

"Then we've done that for him, haven't we?" Tamamo cheerfully points out, doing her best to keep the mood afloat. "I'm sure he's very happy for you, Master."

"But do you _really_ see us as friends, though?" Elizabeth comments a bit off to my right, hiding a bit behind Martha because Carmilla is close by. "You don't _really_ see us as friends, do you? You just don't strike me as the type. You're so exacting and so...so blunt and stuff. You even said yourself that you don't even have a lot of friends of your own."

"Liz, I swear..." Tamamo swiftly turns around and starts taking a dangerous step towards her, but I react just as swiftly and put my hand on her shoulder to restrain her.

"No, you're right," I concede. "I would be lying to you all if I were to call you friends. For now, everybody here is just an 'ally'."

"Th-Then - Then you don't see me as your wife, Master?!" Tamamo cries out, which just naturally draws the attention of Kiyohime, who bolts over without tripping over her kimono somehow and plants herself in front of me too.

"If you have grown tired of this fox, Master, please, know that this dragon is more than ready to pick up the slack - " Kiyohime proclaims seductively, just before Tamamo steps in front of Kiyohime angrily.

"Oh no you don't, you thieving little bush snake, trying to steal my husband away - !" Tamamo yowls, but I speak over the two of them,

"Can you two not, right now?"

And they immediately cease. Tamamo does so with a degree of guilty conscience, while Kiyohime just keeps smiling like nothing's happened.

"But no, I wouldn't call any of you friends at the moment," I shake my head. "Just because of the way I've grown up and taught myself how to approach things emotionally. Given time, it probably will be a different story. But not right now."

"But you treat your Servants as if they were guests in your home," Martha notes. "I was speaking with King Artoria, and she has testified that your hospitality has been of the highest quality."

"I think she's just being nice to me because I feed her food that she likes every night," I retort bluntly, just like Liz described just now, and this elicits a few chuckles from the surrounding Servants. "But more seriously, it's because in my experience, I've found that if you treat people well, they're more likely to return the favor. Now, not everyone does; some people just wanna screw other people over for their own gain and don't care to build any mutually beneficial relationships or whatever, and I've dealt with those kinds of people too. But logically speaking, because I'm dealing with Servants, who need their Master, or in this case me, to remain materialized in this world, I can take the risk and assume that you'll return the favor if I were to treat you all well."

"Ehhhh, I wouldn't know about Liz," Tamamo smirks, raising a hand over her mouth to give a taunting look over at Elizabeth.

 _"I'm reforming, okay, you goody-two-shoes fox!"_ Liz growls. "And don't act like you're without your own problems, too! Master, I should tell you now that you ought to be careful of that conniving fox! You've heard of her legend, right? Tell me that you have!"

"Yeah, but it's been made clear to me that the legends you speak of don't necessarily coincide with what this world knows," I shrug.

At this, the Servants around me tense up, as I notice through the minute but sudden shifts in their body languages.

"Our legends aren't the same that this world knows?" Martha is the first to speak out on this. "But - but how? How is that possible?"

Correspondingly, I put on a serious look to match this change in mood. "Why, what's wrong with it?"

"Master, are you privy to the process by which Heroic Spirits such as us become Servants?" Vlad asks slowly.

"Somewhat. I know that Heroic Spirits are beings who have a higher existence than humans, and that they can become Servants through summoning, though only through vessels like the Holy Grail because they can't normally be controlled by humans like me."

"That does not answer my question, Master, for that is merely tangential information." Vlad turns to me now this time, as if he's made up his mind already that I don't know what the fuck I'm even talking about. "We Heroic Spirits, We Servants, are what we are due to the ideals and the legends that our people have established for us. Be it legends and tales of bravery, valor, and dignity, or stories and depictions of villainy, antagonism, and evil, we are created from the container of human imagination to give us form. Do you perhaps see where this is going?"

Digesting Vlad's words, I nod slowly.

"Basically, if the legends that you know and those that this world knows don't add up, it shouldn't even be possible to summon you all here," I conclude.

"Correct."

"Hm. But Master, how did you come to that conclusion?" Carmilla asks. "That our myths and legends may not conform to those that this world acknowledges."

"I found out about Tamamo's past," I tell them. "Tamamo told me her legend, and it doesn't match up exactly with what humanity in this world knows. They're pretty similiar, don't get me wrong, but her story and this world's traditional story of Tamamo don't agree in enough places for me to determine that they're two separate, distinct anecdotes."

I pause for a moment, thinking.

"I mean, I don't wanna make you angry or anything, Tamamo, but for all I know, it could be that you're lying to me about your story and you're just twisting it for the sake of getting on my good side," I speculate, which, like I anticipated, invokes quite the strong reaction from Caster.

"I-I would _never_ do such a thing! Not to my beloved Master, no, no!" Tamamo yelps, as if I'd just branded her with a hot iron.

"Ugh. As much as I don't want to be on her side, I can vouch for her that she's been telling you the truth," Liz grumbles, sighing heavily. "We Servants know each other's histories since we all come from the Throne of Heroes. You know what _that_ is, at least, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then yeah, we know each other's legends that're inscribed into the Throne. We just don't know what other Servants normally look like, which is the reason why in a normal Holy Grail War, keeping our True Names a secret is really important, because once our True Names are out there, that means that the other Servants we're fighting against then know our weaknesses and can fight accordingly."

Nodding, I also motion over to the Artoria's.

"And another example is that in this world, King Arthur was a guy," I mention. "But here, clearly, Artoria isn't. Even if I suspected that Tamamo wasn't being honest with me, there's already proof enough that evidently in the Throne of Heroes, King Arthur was a woman. And with three versions of her here, all women, that pretty much confirms that our legends of King Arthur don't match with whatever's in the Throne."

"Then why is it that we are able to be summoned?" Marie asks worriedly. "If this world remembers us differently than what the Throne acknowledges, how are we able to remain here?"

"The nature of this Holy Grail War, perhaps?" Mozart guesses. "Or, bizarre as this sounds, perhaps this world is ordinarily foreign to the Throne of Heroes?"

"Maybe," I shrug a little. "I'm pretty sure that other 'proper' mages, like people from the Clock Tower and stuff, have established that alternate dimensions do exist."

"They do, Senpai," Matthew confirms. "That is a definite possibility."

"Then the nature of this Holy Grail War is so strange that we have all been summoned into a world where our legends and stories have started to deviate...?" Kiyohime ponders.

"Holy Grail Wars are only meant to have a total of seven Servants fighting one another to the death in search of the Holy Grail itself, after all," Sanson inputs quietly, with the usual soft-spoken tone of his. "Here, as we can all clearly see, we Servants now number nineteen, including Mademoiselle Demi-Servant. That alone is grounds to begin gauging just how displaced we Servants are in this world."

"But it cannot be too far off. Master seems to have recognized all of us to varying degrees. Is there any one of us who simply does not belong in this world, Master?" Martha asks, and I shake my head.

"No, all of you are accounted for. Your histories or stories, this world has them all. It's just that, like what we're talking about, they just don't match up exactly with what you know."

"But could this not simply be chalked up to historical inaccuracy?" Siegfried suggests. "There is always the possibility that humans may have either intentionally or unintentionally drafted our legends or myths inaccurately, and those inaccuracies may have compounded over the years to produce the legends and myths this world now acknowledges."

"So you're saying that maybe all of you here are the incarnations of the original versions of your legends or myths?" I ask.

"Perhaps. However, I humbly advise you to take it with a grain of salt. I do apologize for being unable to give you a conclusive answer, though."

"But the Throne is separated from the world and exists outside of both the world and the flow of time," Matthew says. "Human historical inaccuracies shouldn't matter, in that case."

"Wait, so, what even _is_ the point of talking about this again?" Liz complains suddenly. "We're all here, right? We're all doing just fine, aren't we? So there shouldn't be any problem! You all're making this seem like it is!"

But I'm in the middle of rubbing my chin, which is what usually happens when I'm thinking deeply about something, as you probably should've noticed by now.

"Maybe this has something to do with the fact that when Servants die in this world, they don't disappear...?" I speculate this time, speaking much more slowly than I usually would. "Because we've seen two Servants who died, yet their bodies didn't disappear like normal Servants should when they're defeated. Phantom and Atalanta."

The early evening breeze fills the silence the ensues among us for a few moments.

"If our bodies don't disappear when we die, does that mean that there isn't even a Throne of Heroes that we can return to?" Liz mumbles uncertainly.

"No, there _must_ be a Throne," Mozart replies firmly. "The Throne is the foundation on which we Heroic Spirits stand to exist in this physical form known as Servants. It must exist. The question instead must be if we still possess a link to the Throne from this world. The fact that there have been two cases of Servants who were defeated, yet their bodies remained even postmortem, is..."

I gaze off into the sunset, and the sun is just barely starting to dip beneath the horizon. I guess I know what I'm asking Da Vinci next when I go back to Chaldea. Matter of fact, I probably should've asked her earlier today.


	60. Somebody

April 25th.

"Are you sure that this person you're looking for will be here, Senpai?"

"Yeah. That guy we intercepted earlier was a friend of his whom he was gonna meet in this diner. Now we're just waiting for him to show up."

Several of my Servants and I are seated at one of the bigger party tables here in this diner called Lil' Ernie's. It's a diner that's intentionally designed to run like a classic post-war diner, with the aesthetic and uniforms to match. We've just put in our orders, and I scan the table quickly to review my troops: Matthew, Tamamo, Artoria, Lily, Salter, Jeanne, Jalter, and Kiyohime, with everybody dressed in outdoor casual outfits. It's somewhat jarring to see Kiyohime especially in modern outdoor wear, but she's taken her clothes in stride and looks quite lovely in them. They all do, to be honest.

"Er, so, explain to me what exactly we're doing here again...?" Jalter grumbles, rubbing her forehead in irritation. "You told us that this was a mission, and yet we're sitting here in a diner about to eat lunch...?"

Sighing quietly, I sit up straighter in my chair and gaze across the table over at Jalter.

"You don't listen to what I say, huh?" I observe aloud.

"No, why would I have to listen to you?" Jalter scoffs back.

"Because you sure as hell listened to me when I told you not to try anything funny back in Orleans. Or maybe now that you're not having your life threatened by a pathetic human being like me, you feel a bit braver about your chances?"

"Tch, that was a fluke. That Holy Grail isn't as strong as Gilles thought it would be - I _guarantee_ you, if we were to fight now, I'll murder you and _then_ some," Jalter spits back, glaring daggers back at me.

"Please, Jalter, don't speak to Master like that..." Jeanne implores quietly with her evil sister.

"Yeah, whatever. Now that I'll have you listen this time around..." I clear my throat politely with a fist over my mouth. "I'm here on some personal business that has nothing to do with the Holy Grail War or whatnot. Initially I was going to handle this by myself, but now that I have everyone here as Servants, it wasn't like I was gonna be able to leave my own house without you girls knowing. So I've brought you all along with me because I might as well."

"Given what ended up happening to you just last week when you drove out at night, you can't blame me for being worried, you know!" Tamamo pouts, tightly folding her arms over her ample chest. Her fox ears are twitching quite a lot at this.

"A'ight, I get the point," I remind Caster. "The guy I'm meeting is this dude - Jacob Vurtans-Quintana. He's a local drug dealer - or, more specifically, he's the man responsible for a large drug ring in this area that he manages and profits from, and he manages it through a small network of personally trusted distributors that he occasionally meets with so that he can make sure they're working in the ways he wants them to. Today is one of those days - or it was supposed to be."

As I'm talking, I use a rune to generate a photo of him that I have on my ENIAC system to show the girls what he looks like.

"A manager of a drug ring..." Lily murmurs uncertainly.

"I'm not sure if the Grail supplied you girls with knowledge of things like drug rings; do you know anything about that kinda stuff?" I ask everyone at the table, not just Lily, and the Servants all nod, albeit with the same kind of hesitation that Lily used to speak her last bit.

"We know _of_ them, but...only as much as your average passerby," Jeanne shakes her head, breaking convention.

"What about you, Matthew? Do you know anything about them? Even if it's just general knowledge, that's fine too," I turn to Matthew, who also shakes her head.

"I'm...I'm a very sheltered girl, I'm sorry, Senpai," Matthew apologizes. Sheltered girl, she calls herself...

"Mkay. Well, I won't bore you all with what I know about drug rings 'n stuff, so for our purposes, I'll explain why this is important for me personally and why maybe you girls aren't so completely uninvolved, and I can explain this in two parts. The first part involves my status as this area's Resident Guardian: as Resident Guardian, personally, I don't like the idea of there being significant drug rings or networks existing in the areas that I preside over. These drugs are illegal in this country and are considered contraband because of their addictiveness and danger to those who consume them."

"If people are stupid enough to kill themselves by snorting stuff like cocaine, let 'em," Jalter laughs shortly and brutally. "This world needs less stupid people anyway."

"If that's all they ever did then I wouldn't necessarily disagree," I narrow my eyes back at Jalter. "But the problem is that drugs like cocaine or whatever have the chance of causing the people who get hooked on them to resort to desperate or often violent measures to get the money that they need to keep buying more drugs. Hence, they'll rob people, stores, or banks, or break into homes in search of money just to fuel their addictions that they have no intention of controlling because all they care about is getting that one more high. That's where I get involved, since I don't exactly like the idea of people robbing or maybe even murdering other people for money for more drugs, and sometimes the police are too slow to respond."

"Oh, then you're trying to be a _hero!"_ Jalter laughs again, but this time her laugh is much sharper and cuts through the air like a knife, thereby causing a few other customers in the diner to glance briefly over in Jalter's direction. "Oh, that's so _cute_. Our Master is trying to be a _hero of justice!"_

At this, I simply give Jalter a clean, professional smile back.

"Miss Jalter, choose your next few words carefully the next time you speak to Master, otherwise - " Tamamo already has a few talismans prepped in between her fingers, but I snap my fingers quickly in her direction.

"Calm it, Tamamo, we're not here to blow this place up," I say firmly, and Tamamo reluctantly but obediently complies. "But anyways, my apparent dream of being a hero of justice aside, there has been another time that I've had to do this, so this isn't my first rodeo. As a matter of fact, I personally think that the reason why Mr. Vurtans-Quintana was able to get to this point was because he saw an opportunity open up for him to become the next big drug dealer in town after I took care of the guy who was before him."

"You take away the person in power, and there will always be others to rise to the top again," Salter murmurs quietly, having been helping herself to the sweet rolls that the waitress has brought us as an appetizer.

"Yeah, we call that a power vacuum," I nod. "When there is no established system of succession, there'll be a free-for-all to see who comes out on top among those who wanna be that new top. That kind of conflict is sometimes even worse than the conflict that I have to kick up to get rid of the previous guy to begin with, so I've already taken steps to ensure that something like that won't happen after what happens today."

"Then how do will you ensure that such a conflict will not happen?" Artoria asks.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, I've already taken steps to make sure that doesn't happen," I shake my head, and then I gesture to the Artoria's and Matthew. "You girls heard me talking to that Hal Yoalsin guy yesterday, right? I'm working closely with one of the branches of this city's police department; they've already set up surveillance and patrol zones in this city and the ones around here; if they find anything, I'll be on the case."

"But I must say, Master, everything here sounds as though you are taking this quite personally," Kiyohime notes. "Even when considering your status as this area's 'Resident Guardian'..."

"And that leads me to the other part," I transition, "and this is the part that indirectly involves us, the magical folk. Mages who live in areas of this country that have significant drug presence or drug network presence can take advantage of them by mixing those drugs with their own magic to manipulate people into doing what they want. There've been cases of mages being leaders of their own drug rings and controlling people through the drugs that they sell them through their networks. While I don't have proof of something like this happening here, I'm not going to take the chance that that might actually be the case here. This drug ring seems to be in its fledgling stages - I'd rather get rid of a problem now before it turns into way bigger of a pain in the ass to deal with in the future."

I take a sip of my water, taking a break from the talking.

"Then...you must be doing this to protect everyone in this city and the ones adjacent, right?" Lily asks with relief.

"Yes, ultimately."

"Senpai, while this might not be my place to say, please be careful with getting involved in matters like these, though," Matthew warns me. "It's dangerous for mages to get involved with the matters of the non-magical world...the magical world is already dangerous enough as it is..."

"Are you asking that out of concern for my own safety, or because you're worried that I might leak the existence of magic to the normies?" I ask back.

"W-Well, a bit of both, but more so for your safety, of course!" she answers quickly.

"Then thanks for your concern. It's just, I like to think of myself as pretty utilitarian, and I couldn't care less if normal people found out that I'm a mage or that magic really does exist in this world if that's what's necessary for me to get done what I need done. And besides, those Clock Tower cucks can go to hell; they can all go fuck themselves for all I care."

"But it's not just the Clock Tower's concern about leaking the existence of magic into the world, Senpai, that is what all mages should be careful of..."

"Not me," I just shrug. "I'm neutral about that. While I won't explicitly go out of my way to broadcast magic into the world, I won't care if I have to use magic in ways that other mages would never even consider."

"Hey, Master, I _do_ recall that you're doing business with this guy...?" Jalter sneers over at me. "Doesn't that put _your_ line of work in jeopardy, too? Hmmm?"

"I also recall saying that I'm pretty utilitarian when it comes to things, so I don't see anything wrong in using my own business as a means to getting closer to my target and gathering information about him that I wouldn't be able to otherwise," I glance back at Jalter unflinchingly.

"But if you think about it, both you and this Jacob guy run businesses, right? Is there any real difference? This guy's the same as you too, isn't he? A businessman. Different natures of business, yeah, but he's just like you, a guy trying to make a living in this world. This world is quite cruel, and you know that." Jalter speaks with this mockingly high-and-mighty tone that she's using to try to get under my skin. Too bad for her, tough skin is quite a valuable commodity. "You're going to take out a guy who's basically the same as you? Have you no sympathy for your fellow businessman?"

"Businessmen, sure, but of two very different natures," I retort, setting my tall glass of water topped with a straw down on the table in front of me. "Jacob's is based on dishonesty and thuggery because drug business is dirty business; anything goes, and there aren't any rules because it's illegal to begin with, so there's no logic behind establishing rules that don't govern logistics and all that kinda stuff. Jacob and his associates can do whatever they want with their network and the people who're involved in it because their natures are criminal."

"Oh? And you're telling us that you're different?"

"Why, yes. Hard to fathom, isn't it?"

Giving Jalter a wry smile back again, I pull off my cap and set it on the empty corner of the table to my left and slowly lean forward on my side of the table to rest my elbows down against it, my fists raised up like I'm in prayer.

"The most important thing in business is honesty," I murmur, gazing straight down at the jar of sugar standing in the middle of the big table after brushing my bangs that are in need of a trim out of my dull black eyes. "My dad taught that to me; it's one of the few things that he made sure to ingrain into my work ethic when he was training me to take over his business. Not just the business either, but for everything. In interacting with people, too - and most importantly, being honest with myself. Because if you aren't honest with yourself, you can't expect yourself to be honest to anybody. It's similar to how you can't expect yourself to be able to help others who you think are in need if you aren't even able to take care of yourself."

I raise my eyes up a little to gaze back at Jalter again.

"Now I'm not sitting here trying to seem like I'm motherfuckin' George Washington and the whole cherry tree thing, since there have been many times when I haven't been honest with myself when I could have been. But I always make it a habit to be honest with other people, the people whom I know, work with, meet with, talk to, etc. Naturally, that extends to business, too. Honesty, integrity...those are the kinds of qualities that forge strong business partnerships, and those are the kinds of relationships that I want my business to have because those are the most profitable, the most reliable. The people I work with who understand that I have that sort of mentality stick with me to do business with me because they know that I am someone whom they can trust as far as business is concerned, and I always strive to make sure I never let them down. Because anybody can work hard and put in forty plus hours a week; but not everybody can be honest doing it."

A sensor goes off in the distance to the north.

"I'm also not saying that businesses like Mr. Vurtans-Quintana can't have that degree of honesty, either. But the chances that a business like that will be founded on the same mentality and work ethic that I use as a foundation to base my own business and job on are low, really low. The incentive for people and businesses like Mr. Vurtans-Quintana and drug rings and networks and stuff like that is mainly the money; money is the only thing the people who run this drug ring stuff care about. For the most part, they don't give a shit about honesty or integrity or anything like that, and the one exception that forces them to care is if being honest or showing integrity means that they get to earn more money - or keep the right to continue making that money, depending on the situation."

"But you run a business too, aren't you in it for the money too?" Jalter retorts. "I mean, that's the nature of a business by definition, isn't it?"

"Everything that I'm doing right now isn't for the money; I gain no financial compensation for anything that I'm doing here," I shake my head. "But admittedly, it's not all altruistic, either."

I take the jar of sugar while I'm talking again, unscrew the big lid, and pour out all the sugar onto an empty bread plate before me, setting the empty jar down to continue talking.

"When my dad died, I didn't just succeed him in his business, remember," I remind my Servants. "I also assumed his title of Resident Guardian. The title of Resident Guardian is highly sought after because that entitles you to be able to do whatever you want with the territories that you control. I mentioned before that there isn't an overarching administration that regulates us Resident Guardians, and the influence of other organizations like the Clock Tower doesn't affect Resident Guardians much since we're normally really independent and don't like being corralled into one group; this meant that at the time of my own succession, I had a lot of eyes on me, a lot of vultures that I couldn't see or even know of who were watching me and waiting for that one moment where they can swoop in and kill me off for the title."

I then glance to my left, out the nearest window. An average-height male, flanked by a few other men either about the same height or slightly taller, is sauntering down the sidewalk in the direction of this diner, and all of them have cigarettes in their mouths and wear bright,trendy, flamboyant clothes that rich young men who have too much money for their own good and have no sense of fashion or modesty typically wear as they chat and laugh, probably with obnoxiously loud voices.

"That was when I learned that you are what you are in this world," I mutter, still with my eyes out the window. "I was taught to be honest and have integrity, so that's what I became. But then, I learned that you're either one of two things: either you're somebody, or you're nobody. Be right back..."

Slipping out from my chair, I bring the empty jar of sugar with me as I swiftly step outside. The waiter working the front desk that accepts new customers gives me a very nervous glance, and I smile politely back at him. He knows what I'm about to do.

I step out onto the sidewalk and catch the intersection crosswalk to cross the street safely. I've already told the girls to stay behind with very clear and firm instructions, and given that I don't sense any movement behind me, it looks like they're following my orders. Good - I'd rather do this alone.

"The fuck's that shit, man? Can you believe that, fifty bucks for that fuckin' tee? I know where to get that exact same thing for _half price,_ yo..." I hear Coke Cabron laughing to his groupies, but by the time I've crossed the street to the other side, one of them notices me and hurriedly points me out to his boss, who then glances over in my direction. The moment he sees me approaching him swiftly, he gives me a staggeringly arrogant, egotistical smile, but he doesn't say a word even as I stop in front of him with a distance of eleven inches between the toes of our shoes. So I take the initiative in talking.

"Where's my money?" I ask him calmly. I have neither a smile nor a frown on my face - I just talk. "I sent you another invoice earlier today both through your fax machine and to your email, and I left you a voice message on your office phone, your cellphone, and your _old_ cellphone just in case. I told you I'd give you until today to give me my money. Here's a jar - twenty percent, like I asked."

I put the empty jar of sugar that I've taken from the diner and set it firmly on the ground, on the tiny stretch of sidewalk that spans between our feet.

"Oh, you got the jar, _cabron?"_ Jacob remarks with a snort.

"That's right."

Jacob starts chuckling deviously and his groupies around him start fanning out a little, as if to surround me but not really. Several of them start cracking their knuckles threateningly, gestures that are absolutely unnecessary.

"Get the fuck outta my face, you piece of dogshit chink _pinche pandejo,"_ Jacob spits, and I can feel some of the saliva from his mouth dot my face as he rapid-fires a uniquely Mexican-American chop-suey of Spanish and English profanity. "I know who you are; my boys found out 'bout'chu. You don't scare me, you fuck. Why don't you go back to fucking China or whatever fucking chink shithole you came from on a fucking boat somewhe - oooh!"

As he's wasting his breath questioning my racial status and factually incorrect immigration history, I dip my right hand into my jacket and pull out Mustang, my red-and-black chromed Desert Eagle. I'm still wearing the usual jacket, and I'm just using magic to seemingly pull my pistol out from inside my jacket when in reality I'm just grabbing it from the magic storage rune I've hidden beforehand in the interior of my jacket. I smoothly raise the handgun up to Jacob's forehead and flick the ambi safety down with the side of my thumb so that my gun is ready to fire by the time the cold muzzle is grazing his skin. None of his groupies can react fast enough to stop me from putting a gun to their boss's head, so they just stand where they've fanned out a little, watching me while I stare in silence directly into Jacob's brown eyes - no blinking, no taking my eyes off his gaze.

"Oh, what'cha gonna do, chink?" Jacob challenges me, facing me with a much calmer facial expression than I anticipated him having when I put him at gunpoint. "What'cha gonna do, huh? You gonna shoot me, _cabron?_ In front 'a all _these_ people? Out in the middle 'a broad daylight? _Huh?_ C'mon, go ahead, pussy, you won't do it, no balls! What kinna chink has balls like that, anyway, they don't even got a dick! C'mo - "

I pull the trigger.

The explosion of sound produced by the immense report of my .44 Magnum Desert Eagle tears the relative silence of the intersection around us, and the big casing of the round that I've fired, ejected from the action of my gun when the slide kicked back to spit it out, clinks against the ground and rolls to a stop against a table leg nearby.

The people who were around us are immediately screaming and running away from us, with the exception of the people inside the shops and stores along the sidewalk that we're on, the ones that Jacob and his boys were window-shopping at just before I showed up to crash their party. Both those people in the shops and Jacob's boys stare at me while slowly backing away from me as I casually step over to Jacob's corpse, the center of his forehead now sporting a torn, bloody circular crater where my .44 Magnum round has sunk into his head and now rests in his brain; if it weren't for the tiny magic rune that I embedded into that round, that bullet would have been powerful enough to go out through the other side and hit a bystander somewhere behind Jacob.

Picking up the jar that I've set down at Jacob's feet, I set it back down again next to Jacob's bleeding head and rummage through his pockets to pull out his wallet. I take his driver's license, all of his credit cards, his car insurance slip, and hey look, he even had his Social Security card on him too, guess I'll take that as well. And don't forget about his cash - turns out, he was carrying two grand in nothing but hundred dollar bills. No wonder his wallet was so damn fat.

"Here you go - twenty percent," I mutter softly, slipping in a roll of four hundred dollars into the jar and looking back up at Jacob's groupies. "You boys have a good day, now."

Lightly pinching the tip of my cap visor, I turn my back to them, having slipped the cards and cash into my jeans pockets and my handgun back inside the magic rune hidden in the inside of my jacket. I wait for the traffic signal at the intersection for my turn to cross, and I promptly walk back inside the diner, potentially sixteen hundred dollars or more richer than I was when I left it a few minutes ago.

I seat myself back down to find a plate of deliciously prepared pancakes smothered with just the right amount of maple syrup, sausage links, bacon, a big fat helping of golden-fried hashbrowns, sausage patties, and piping hot sweet corn. It's been a while since I've last had a stereotypical American diner breakfast - well, minus the sweet corn, that is.

"Oh, this looks good," I smile slightly as I look up at my Servants. "So, uh...yeah, what was I saying?"

"Something about being somebody or nobody," Kiyohime answers with a corresponding smile.

"Ah, thanks, Kiyo," I nod back, picking up my knife and fork. "Yeah, it doesn't matter now, though, there's nobody outside anymore."


	61. What Is A Mage

**A/N:**

 **"Looks like that the author discontinued the piece, but with negative reviews as that, who wouldn't?"**

 **OMEGAFUCKINGLUL**

 **-Akyuu no Joshu**

* * *

We get back home at around half-past one. I immediately hurry up to my room, leaving the Servants whom I've taken with me to western Archibrod to their own devices as I turn the monitor back on to check my email, which should contain for me an email confirming that the LAPD is already on the job locking down Coke Cabron's warehouses located around the city. I quickly type out a hasty reply to that email, giving Hal a pledge of assistance in case he needs my help anywhere, though we've worked together a few times before so he and his men should know what to do. It's certainly not the LAPD's first rodeo dealing with drug lords like Coke. As I'm typing out the email response, I can hear through my floor and the door the Servants directly below me start getting into quite the heated debate, though I'm not particularly paying much attention to it right this moment.

As I'm in the middle of working on a few more emails that have slipped in while I was out of the office, a few knocks come from my door.

"Yeah, come in," I call behind me, not bothering to swivel around because my surveillance rune that pops up next to my keyboard reveals that it's Mash, holding the furball known as Fou.

"Um...Master, I hope...I'm not interrupting anything..." Matthew says uncertainly as she lets herself in, with Fou bounding out of her arms to hop onto the foot of my bed.

"You're not, don't worry. Can I help you with something?" I ask her, though I'm only feigning ignorance while I have a pretty good idea what she's about to talk to me about.

"Um...the Servants...they - " Matthew begins, but I nod swiftly.

"Yeah, I know. Are they starting to argue about it on their own?"

"Yes...I just thought I'd let you know, because, um, you've mentioned before that you don't like it when they fight amongst each other like that..."

"I'll head down there and try to sort it out, yeah, but right now I'd like to get some work done. Though, that being said, I'm almost done here, so..." I glance over at Matthew briefly, who's taken a seat for the time being also on the foot of my bed with Fou, who also somehow looks a bit concerned as well, if I'm somehow reading his expression correctly, which I might not be. "So what's it lookin' like down there?"

"Huh? Er, what...what do you mean by that, Senpai...?"

"As in, who're the ones doin' most of the arguing?" I ask.

"Oh, that. It's, um, Lady Tamamo and Lady Artoria, mainly."

"Ah, I see. I'm guessing Tamamo brought it up again with Artoria and now they're arguing about it all over again?"

Matthew slowly but tiredly nods. I guess I should'a ordered Tamamo to stop yappin' about it after we got out of the car.

Long story short, some of the Servants protested my actions following Coke Cabron's death; those Servants were, not surprisingly, Saber, Saber Lily, and Jeanne. When we left the cafe, those three got on my case over it, but naturally the other Servants came to my defense over it as well. It was quite the experience having to deal with an SUV full of Servants going back on forth over whether or not I, as their Master, was justified in shooting and killing a man right in the middle of public in broad daylight.

"...I'm sorry that you have to deal with this, Senpai," Matthew murmurs hesitantly.

"Sorry? But why?" I shrug.

"Well, because in a normal Holy Grail War, you only have to work with a single Servant, and they are obligated to follow your orders, no matter what kind of alignment they might possess or whatever your actions may be, within reason, of course," Matthew says. "It's just that...here, in this kind of a situation, you have to deal with lots of Servants who have a wide variety of viewpoints, perspectives, and opinions, and they might disagree on certain things, so...situations like these can come up..."

"Well, that just happens when you've got a large group of people, they're bound to disagree with each other on some stuff at some point. Heroic Spirits are based off people, right? So it's not like I expected them to behave any differently."

I motion over to Matthew as well while clicking on another email.

"And what about you? 'Cause I get the feeling you'd take Saber's side on this whole thing, but you haven't said anything yet," I mention to her. "Unless you don't wanna say anything, of course."

I wait for Matthew's response, which takes a few minutes, so I spend that time writing out emails and printing out a few more documents.

"...um...well, I want to believe that you did what you felt was best in that situation. It felt like something you had already planned out, and that even if we knew exactly what you were going to do beforehand, there was not much we could have said or done to persuade you otherwise," Matthew articulates carefully. "But even still, um...doing something like that...just out in the open, too...it's...it's hard to judge accurately..."

"Then just to make it simple for me, if you had to go with only one answer, agree or disagree, which one would you go with?"

Another few minutes' worth of waiting.

"I-I don't know...like I said, it's...it's hard to really...decide..." Matthew murmurs, her gaze firmly glued straight down at the carpet floor. "I'd have to know more to, uh, really - "

"A'ight. I'm gonna head down after I'm done here, maybe I can do a little bit of damage control or something..."

"Actually, Senpai, you probably knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"

"What, how some of 'em were gonna freak out when I shot that guy?"

"Er, something like that, yeah."

"Yeah, somewhat. I guess I was most surprised by Tamamo, I thought she'd be all over my ass over that, but apparently I guess not."

"Then why did you bring all of us for that? Shouldn't that have been something you should have kept a secret, rather than willingly show some of the Servants like Lady Artoria?"

"I figured I'd show everyone the nature of my work as a mage, I guess. It feels like we're gonna be working together for a while, since who knows how long this Holy Grail War's gonna go on for, so who knows, there might come a time when I'll need the Servants to help me out with some of my own stuff. And for when that time comes, I'd rather that they have an idea what it is that I deal with sooner rather than later."

"But you could have done that at a later time, not when we're about to head off for another Singularity soon," Matthew points out.

"True. But at the same time, even if I were to try to keep it on the down-low, some of you would'a come with me anyway, like Tamamo, and maybe you too, 'specially after that time when I came back home with my arm snapped in half or something. Somehow, some way, the Servants would start getting an idea of what it is that I do as a mage when it's not something that's got to do with the Holy Grail War. And, I suppose in a twisted sense, it's also my way of telling everyone that I'm not trying to hide anything from them as a Master. I've heard about people who were Masters in previous Grail Wars, and let's just say the things I've heard about 'em aren't that flattering."

"So you would rather deal with a situation like this sooner rather than later," Matthew concludes.

"Yeah, that's...that's what I've been saying, I think?"

Hitting control-enter on my keyboard to send one final email response to a local trucking company who's scheduled to deliver one of my clients' containers to their warehouse in Anaheim, I get up from my chair, nodding at Matthew as I drape my hoodie over the back of my chair.

"Let's go."

The three of us, including Fou, head back downstairs swiftly to step into the middle of a live firefight complete with its own battlefield, just with words in place of live ammunition. The battle's only really being waged between Tamamo and Saber, though each of them have their own groupies behind them in support, or that's what it appears to look like.

The moment I step foot onto the first floor, Tamamo immediately pivots on her foot to glare over at me and barks as I approach,

"Master, it's about time you finally said something to defend yourself, I can only do so much for you myself!"

And with that, she points an angry finger at Artoria, who staunchly stands her own ground against Caster with a steeled look of her own. The rest of the Servants who have happened to be in the living room watching television or whatnot are either keenly looking on with quite some interest or are standing near the ones in contention out of genuine concern over the current situation.

"But there's nothing for me to defend, though," I shrug, joining my Servants. "You all saw nice 'n clear what I did: I shot a guy right in the middle of the street, out in broad daylight, because ultimately I deemed him a potential threat to my territory that I thought needed to be removed."

 _"Exactly!"_ Tamamo chirps loudly and indignantly, pivoting just as fast as before back to Artoria and glaring even more daggers at her. "This was to preserve the integrity of his territory! Isn't that what mages do? Why do you fault him for something like _that?"_

"You seem to be ignoring what I have been saying just now, Caster," Saber says calmly, though I can sense a bit of exasperation in her voice. "I am questioning Master's decision to attack and murder an unarmed target who had no apparent means of self-defense of his own, in the public eye, with witnesses in the area. My impression, which is one that I believe many other Servants here also happen to share, is that mages are supposed to perform their duties and/or obligations away from the public eye, as the Holy Grail War itself should also be. And you have already heard enough of me offering my humble opinion on the idea of killing enemies who cannot first defend themselves - "

"But I've been _telling_ you that you only think that because you're still stuck in an age where chivalry still exists!" Tamamo groans, practically cutting off Saber's tail words towards the end. "Mages don't work like that, and uncertainly not the one we call Master! I mean, we've had a whole Singularity working and fighting with him, and it should've been enough to give us all the idea that Master's the type of person to do whatever he needs to do to get something done! If you didn't catch that by now, I'm sorry, but that's more of your own fault, not being able to accept that Master does things differently than what you and your chivalrous values can condone!"

"But perhaps there could have been another way. I think that is the point we are trying to get across," Jeanne joins in, but she looks more worried that this conversation now has the potential to spiral quickly out of control. "Rather than confront the man and then kill him in cold blood, perhaps...perhaps Master could have resorted to another - "

But I shake my head, since Jeanne was looking in my direction as she's talking, and the French Saint lets her thought trail off rather weakly.

"I think I mentioned before that this isn't my first time dealing with people like him," I sigh quickly, folding my arms across my chest. "I've found that people like them don't really deserve much, other than a bullet to the head."

"But he was _unarmed!"_ Saber points out.

"Yeah? He had, what, five other dudes with him to back him up."

"Perhaps so, but you are a Mage, Master. None of them had any magical talent whatsoever, so a numbers advantage means nothing against a mage such as yourself!"

"Yeah, when I'm barely a Mage at all with my fake-as-fuck magecraft and stuff. I'm nowhere near as good as any of the rest of you at detecting magical threats, at least not without my scan runes, so I don't make any assumptions; anyone can be a Mage, for all I know, and I'm not about to show them mercy just because I think they're just normal humans."

"You would slaughter both normal humans and Mages alike? With no discrimination?" the King of Knights growls suddenly, her tone growing considerably more antagonistic.

"No," I say simply. "Why would I do that? What makes you think normal humans and Mages are so much different from each other? Mages can use magic, but other than that, they're the exact same as normal humans. And normal humans, even without magic, can do just as terrible shit as Mages can; they're just a bit more, uh, _limited_ , let's say, in the kind of shit they can do."

Saber just stares at me in disbelief, like she can't believe the words she's hearing me say to her.

"Oh, and if the lack of chivalry's one of the things that makes you angry about how I went about this situation, I'll have you know that I warned the guy multiple times over the week that something like this was gonna happen," I continue on. "Obviously I didn't tell him that I was planning on murdering him right on the street, but I sent him messages everyday, telling him that he owed me money that I need to help run my business, messages that he ignored all week long and money that he never sent. I told him that he had by today to give me my money, otherwise I would collect from him in person. I gave him plenty of warning, plenty of room to work with, and he didn't do as I'd asked. Those were all perfectly reasonable demands for me to make from my position, and I can explain exactly why if you want me to. He chose not to do as I'd asked, so I took matters into my own hands."

"Then you would do this to just about anyone, along that logic!" Saber argues. "And as you have just stated yourself, you would treat anyone who owed you money with the same approach! That I cannot stand, Master!"

"Er, no, you do realize that I only killed that guy today because of his threat to my territory?" I bluntly remind her. "I wouldn't do that to someone who's just trying to run an honest business or someone who's clean. I killed Jacob because of the danger that he represented to my territory, not because of money, both in terms of being a drug dealer and the danger that he as a drug dealer poses to me and my territory as a Resident Guardian, which I explained before. It's just that things lined up perfectly for me in that the most convenient way to both get my money from him and eliminate him as a threat to my region was to confront him and blow his head off. Sorry if I'm being repetitive here, I just wanna make sure I get the point across, you know...?"

"It appears that some past experiences with another certain Master seem to be on her mind at the moment," Salter calls over from the couch, dipping her hand into the bag of sweet barbecue Lay's that Jalter is holding, while Jalter is giving her a rather annoyed look at the fact that Salter is taking her chips.

Saber whips around to glare at her alter form, but I snort loudly at Salter's remark. "Ah, is that right. Sorry, mages these days are all just a bunch'a assholes, to be honest, and I'm no exception," I chuckle darkly. "If I remind you of whatever Master you might'a had before, then I'd imagine he was was just as big of an asshole as me. It's as Tamamo says, chivalry doesn't really exist anymore, at least not the kind you're mainly familiar with."

"T-Times have changed, it...it seems," Lily murmurs awkwardly but sadly.

"Also, I hope you all haven't been bothering the kitten," I frown at my Servants, glancing around Tamamo to see where the black kitten we saved yesterday is currently residing.

"She is here, she is fine," Marie pipes over, who's sitting next to the bed that we've made for the kitty, though she's cradling the kitten in her arms to shield her from the noise pollution that mainly Tamamo and Artoria have been throwing around the living room.

"But why did we feel that we needed to have this discussion in the first place?" Kiyohime muses softly, holding her ornate fan over her mouth as she is prone to do while still dressed in her casuals. "We as his Servants should only be concerned with our duties in regards to the Holy Grail War unless specifically ordered by Master to become involved. We have no right to judge him or his actions because we may not necessarily understand with perfect clarity the contexts with which he performs his everyday duties. King of Knights, I have tolerated your dissent against my Master and husband for long enough - I ask that you cease the rest of it immediately."

"He's _my_ husband, by the way," Tamamo nudges Kiyohime a bit forcefully with her left sleeved elbow.

"Yeah, says the bitch who's sick in the damn head," Jalter scoffs out. "Master, do realize that Kiyohime has Madness Enhancement EX, which means that her insanity can't be quantified. How much of what she says are you willing to believe? And besides that, even if you say that, aren't you yourself perfectly willing to go back on your own words to get what you want?"

"Of course, but only if it gets in the way of me being together with my Master," Kiyohime shrugs indifferently. "Other than that, I do stand by those words, yes."

"Kiyo, I'm telling you, he's _my_ husband, not yours - "

"Oh, is he, now?" Kiyohime snaps her snake eyes onto Tamamo. "Perhaps we should switch topics now and instead discuss who between us will earn the right of Master's husband?"

"I'm so sorry, Kiyohime, I didn't know that you were such a big fan of _losing!"_ Tamamo snarls back with an incredibly cheerful smile that doesn't match the content of her words whatsoever.

"Hey, if you two're gonna throw down, do it back at Chaldea in their training room, not here," I warn them.

"Hmph, very well, if Master commands," Kiyohime snaps her fan back into place. "Let us take this to Chaldea, then."

"Okay, then first one there gets to have the bed tonight with Master!" Tamamo shouts as she bolts down the stairs.

"Oh, you sly fox, how dare you - !"

Shrieking after her, Kiyohime gives chase, and the portal that connects us to Chaldea sluggishly chugs as it processes the two Servants over to Chaldea on the other side of the world.

"As if they don't get to crash my bed already," I roll my eyes, causing several of the Servants around me to chuckle in amusement.

"Then, Master, if I may ask...why did you take us to witness such a thing...?" Jeanne asks quietly. "Because...we know that you are the kind of person to plan out your steps, and the type of person who always has a clear reason for why he does things. You clearly did not need all of us to escort you earlier today, yet many of us were there with you at your orders. Given some of our alignments, I feel that you should have known that this had the potential to cause some strife, as it has."

She's basically repeating the same question that Matthew asked me earlier in my room, and I glance over at Matthew, who has the corresponding expression that indicates that she realizes this too.

"I did. I actually spoke about this with Matthew earlier when she came to my room a bit earlier," I explain. "I didn't have to bring you guys with me, but the main reason I did was because I wanted to show you the kinds of things that I as a Mage do from time to time. I get the feeling that we'll be working together for quite some time, so I felt that it was better for me to show the ones who went with me what you can expect out of me when it comes to my own business as a Mage, so that way you know that I'm not really trying to hide anything. That, and eventually you guys will find out sooner or later what it is that I do as a Mage anyway; you're all perceptive enough to eventually realize that the kinda stuff that I'm up to isn't the most savory or wholesome, so I'd rather establish that right away rather than later when it's potentially very inconvenient."

"But that would be establishing friction in between you and your Servants," Gilles points out from behind Jeanne, behind whom he's stood to help defend her in case further conflict broke out between Saber and Caster. "And by doing that, you would be allowing that friction time to settle in and become more difficult to root out in the future."

"Conflict is gonna happen between me and the rest of you; that I can't control," I shrug widely. "Already there's, what, nineteen of you, so I'm well past the point where I can try to be on the best relationship possible with everyone on an individual level. But what I can do is show everyone that this is how I am and this is how I like to do things, and from there you can all form your own opinions about it, whether you ultimately approve of them or not. I'm not asking for all of us to be best friends, I just want all of you to know that, hey, this is the kinda thing I'm willing to do, so it'll be up to the rest of you to work around me in that regard. Sorry if that sounds kinda selfish on my part, it's just how I'm used to doing things."

"Then what will you do if more Servants join us with future Singularities?"

I shrug again. "I can just have the rest of you fill them in for me, I guess."

Finally, I turn once last time to Saber.

"I won't try to change your mind on this matter, but if this'll help you feel better about it at all, the guy I killed earlier was up to all sorts'a shit even before I targeted him as a threat to my region," I add. "He's done illegal dogfighting rings, financial scams like Ponzi schemes and false telemarketing, and small-scale ethnic gang wars in north Los Angeles, in some of the poorer areas. He's caused a lot of people a lot of misery, so if I were to say anything to defend myself, it's that I've done the world a favor and got rid of one of the many assholes who walk this damn planet."

"But didn't you call yourself an asshole too?" Jalter snickers.

"Yeah, I did." I give Jalter a quick, professional smile. "Don't you worry, though, I won't be here for very long either."


	62. Toblerone

April 26th.

"No, you're not - sir? Sir, please listen to me. I'm saying I paid the X-Ray exam charges for this container already. I paid them last week - no, nine days ago, to be exact, on Monday, April 17th. I've got my printed receipt _and_ the invoice that the carrier sent me saying that they received and processed my company check right here. So why am I getting an email from you guys saying that this container, which's been stuck at terminal for the past ten days for some reason that hasn't been explained to me clearly yet, saying that I've yet to get the charges on the container cleared? That's what I don't get!"

Tapping my blue pen irritably, I press the phone receiver a bit harder against my ear so that I can hear the guy on the other end of the line better; you'd think that in the year 2017 companies would be able to afford better phones for their workers, especially big carrier and steam ship line companies like the one I'm dealing with now, yet most of them refuse to do so and have phone line qualities that're only slightly better than godforsaken dial-up. Well, that's an exaggeration, but given my annoyance over this particular problem that I'm tackling at the moment, I don't care to admit that. I'll spare you the dialogue from the customer service rep, though.

"Okay - okay, sir, sir? May I speak with your manager, please? I'd like to speak with the manager, please. Thank you."

The door opens behind me as I'm asking for the manager on call. I sense three presences, and given how frequently I've been around them for the past week, I'm starting to recognize them merely by their magical signatures alone. Fou hops up to the corner of the side table that holds up my rows of folders to perch himself there, while Tamamo and Matthew, the former of whom has carried in a tray with two rinsed and juicy-looking apples, sit at the foot of my bed to start cutting me some apples. And just as I start wondering where Kiyohime is, I sense Kiyohime slink her way inside my room as well, closing the door behind her as she enters.

"Hello? Hi, uh, yeah, I'm calling to ask about this email that I got from you guys regarding some X-Ray exam charges on a container that I've got here. Can I give you the container number please? Yes, it's CAIU7288241. Yeah, so my problem is, like I said, I got an email just now from you guys saying that the X-Ray exam charges for this container hadn't been paid yet, but I paid them already last week on the 17th. I even got a receipt and invoice from the company saying that they'd received my money and were going to process it for clearance, but not only has it been sitting in terminal for the past week, but now I'm getting an email saying that I hadn't paid the charges yet."

Tapping the butt of my pen repeatedly against my desk as I listen to the manager on call, I spy out of the corner of my eye an email notification popping up on the corner of my screen, courtesy of my email browser. It's from Roman, and the email header says "URGENT".

I narrow my eyes slightly at it as the manager to whom I'm speaking cross-references my invoice to get down to the bottom of this problem.

"Oh, so it _is_ processed? Good, that's what I thought," I continue, focusing back on the call. "You will? Alright, thank you. Yes, my email is lukenstor - l, u, k, e, n, s, t, o, r, at, hotmail, dot, com. And may I get your name and email address, as well, please? Uh huh..."

I write down the manager's name and contact email onto the delivery order of the file to which this container in question belongs as Tamamo sets down a plate of exquisitely cut apple slices next to my left arm.

"Alright, yeah, send me an email about this once everything's been resolved. And please, get this container out onto rail as soon as possible; my client's been yelling at me wondering where their container's at for the past week when it was supposed to be in their warehouse already in South Bend two days ago. Alright, thank you, sir. You too, buh-bye."

Defusing my annoyance by lightly dropping the receiver back down onto the phone station, I sigh heavily as I write down a few notes for my reference inside the file before closing it to move onto the next order of business.

"Don't overwork yourself, Master," Tamamo coos worriedly, clearly concerned over my rather harsh tone that I've used to speak with the people over the phone.

"Ah, don't worry about it, just..." I force a weak smile, though it's painfully obvious that I'm half-assing it, no thanks to the annoyance coursing through my veins at the moment while I rapidly type out an email to my client to whom this container belongs to update them on the situation with their shipment. "Shit happens, and sometimes it's a bit annoying to have to deal with...it'll be alright, though."

"That's why most mages prefer to work alone, right?" Matthew asks softly. "So that they can minimize problems and obstacles with their research and work."

"Right," I nod. "Mages are among the most selfish people on this fucking planet, what, with their research mostly being dedicated to finding the Root or something. And if they're serious enough about it, they'll do anything to further their work. That's how you end up with those fuckers in the Clock Tower; I hear that those shits let a few select mages research their stuff in absolute solitude so that they have as much room and time as they want to doing whatever fucked up shit that they're doing."

"But I think those kinds of mages agree to be kept in solitary confinement forever, or so that's what I've been led to understand," Matthew tells me. "So yes, they do have free rein over their research, but...no one will ever know about it except for the Clock Tower."

"Even worse, because then you have a single organization monopolizing that kinda research," I frown deeply. "Granted, I suppose it's better than letting those kinds of mages outside and doing whatever fucked up research on their own, but still."

"What about you, Master? You don't have any project or your own personal magic research you're working on?" Tamamo asks. "I know you've mentioned to us that you don't care for finding the Root, but..."

I shake my head. "Not at the moment. Having a full-time job like this tends to suck me dry of any time that I would have pursuing magical projects or anything like that..."

"Not at the moment? So you did have your own research in the past," Kiyohime keenly observes, fanning herself with her sturdy metal fan.

"Yeah, but...those weren't even...they weren't even like, _research_ research," I gesture a little while typing one-handed for a second. "It was just training; training myself to become as efficient as possible in my usage of my style of magecraft. And mainly they were to develop new techniques, spells, runes, anything that I felt that I needed that'd help me out a lot whenever I'd have some freelance mage work available."

"Actually, Senpai, I've been wondering, you've mentioned you have mercenary or, as you said just now, 'freelance mage work', but...how do you get contacted for that? I've heard of mages who've worked as mercenaries before, and I was always a little curious about it ever since I found out about them..." Matthew asks.

"Mm...I can't speak for all mages like me, or mages who kinda do the same type of work that I do, but in my case, since I'm a Resident Guardian, I'm part of the Resident Guardian Assocation of America, or RGA for short; it's a very loose association of Resident Guardians like me that sorta puts regulations and other guidelines for us to follow so that we don't go apeshit over our own regions, but as long as we don't do anything seriously over the top, the RGA typically leaves us alone. But anyway, um, the RGA does give us Resident Guardians the choice to opt into a sort of freelance work list if we want a little extra revenue, and they post that list around the country, but secretly, mind you, so that it's only known to people who already know about the magic world. So what happens is someone who has a job for one of us notifies the RGA that they've got a job for us; then the RGA filters the list to see who's the most suited for the job, and then they contact them one at a time to see if they're willing to take up the job. If the person they ask first accepts it, it's theirs. If they fail to get it done or if they decline, the RGA moves onto the next person."

"But what if no one accepts the task at hand?" Matthew asks.

"The RGA committee handles it themselves. For good reason, the committee's usually seated with the strongest Resident Guardians in the country, so they could handle anything that they get pretty easily if they really wanted to."

Turning to Matthew in my swivel office chair while popping an apple slice into my mouth, I remark to her after I swallow, "If there's ever a situation where you'd like to reach out and look for other places of employment, I'm sure the RGA'll take you," I inform her.

"Eh? Uh, they'll - they'll employ me? Er..." Matthew isn't too sure what to make of this.

"The RGA gets hundreds of applications from people who wanna join every day, people who're aspiring mages or think that they're aspiring mages. The problem with this country is that with a population size like America's, there's naturally gonna be a ton of shit applicants who want to join, mainly because they think magic is hot shit and have no idea what they're getting themselves into. Usually it's people who stumbled upon magic somehow and have their heads up their asses just because they know how to look up a girl's skirt with a rune or a familiar and think they're ready for big boy magic shit, so naturally, they get rejected. In fact, you don't even need to be that good of a mage to join, though they at least want you to have some basic knowledge and performance of magic; the more important thing that they care about is whether or not you're willing to commit yourself to a life of magecraft and improve as a mage along the way so that you can help contribute to the association. Well, it's a bit more complicated than just that, but it's why I'm a part of it and not fucking around with the Clock Tower boys."

"Sounds like such... _low standards,"_ Tamamo remarks dryly, and she happily noms one of her own apple slices when I offer one back to her. Kiyohime silently narrows her snakelike pupils at us at this sight.

"Low standards for a cesspool of applicants, most of whom don't actually have any real magical talent. The fact that we don't really have a significant magical bloodline presence doesn't help things either, since, what, America's barely more than two hundred years old? Not really a lot of time to really get some bloodlines entrenched here, unless you count the Native Americans, but America slaughtered most of them with the really strong magic bloodlines off, so we kinda fucked ourselves doing that..."

"Oh, oh! Master, if a strong bloodline's what you're worried about, you don't have to worry about that when your lovely wife is here ~ " Tamamo enthusiastically chirps. "Mikon ~ !"

I give Tamamo an odd look. "...but Servants can't have children, can they? Or was I misinformed?" I wonder aloud to her.

"E-Er...th-they _normally_ can't..." I hear Matthew mumbling as Tamamo spins me around in my chair a hundred and eighty degrees and shoves my face into her tits.

"Fouuu..."

"Al ~ right ~ that's quite enough from you, Tamamo-san, can't you see that our Master is still hard at work?" Kiyohime sternly says with a snake-like smile as she tears Tamamo with surprising strength off me.

"Uuu...don't deny that you'd love to do that too, Kiyo-chan," Tamamo pouts, pursing her lips back at her friend and rival maiden.

"But of course. But unlike a wild beast such as you, I have something called self-control."

"Pfff! Self-control! From a Berserker like you!" Tamamo bursts out laughing, letting out a bit of a noblewoman's laugh with the whole " _Ohohoho~"_ gig. "But, Master, even if we can't conceive as we are due to our natures as Servants, remember that there shouldn't be anything the Holy Grail _can't_ do, mikon ~ !"

"But I thought you said you didn't like the Holy Grail."

Tamamo freezes, then starts to whistle out of the corner of her mouth awkwardly while turning her gaze slightly to my right, dropping eye contact.

"E- _Exceptions_ can be, uh, _made_..." Tamamo mumbles stubbornly. "Tsk, I should've tried that first when we still had the Grails...why didn't I think of that..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Nothing, nothing at all, eheheheheheh!" Tamamo quickly spins me back around so that I can get back to finishing whatever leftover work I've got. So now thanks to her and Kiyohime, I now have to dread the day when my chastity gets sent to the shadow realm, alright, got it.

But just before I can get back to work, Matthew suddenly calls out with a much different tone from before,

"Doctor? Doctor, what's the situation?!"

Tamamo, Kiyohime, and I all quickly turn to Matthew, who's got her comms hologram active that displays Roman on screen.

 _"The new Singularity's suddenly gone active! We need you guys over there ASAP!"_ Roman yells back at us, and since the hologram is viewable on both sides, even from my desk, I can see Roman typing furiously away at his keyboard at his observation station. _"Is August there? It looks like you're in his room!"_

"How the _fuck_ do _you_ know what my room looks like when you've never even _been_ here?!" I holler over, causing the girls to break into a brief smattering of giggles.

 _"Because Matthew's showed me already, okay? Sorry, gosh!"_ Roman whimpers back. _"No, but seriously, the new Singularity's gone active now, like I said! We've already let the Servants over with us in Chaldea know, and they're preparing to deploy!"_

"Has Lady Da Vinci finished repurposing the Rayshift for present-day tele-travel?" Matthew asks urgently, with Fou also eagerly looking into the hologram while standing on Matthew's right thigh with his front legs.

 _"Yes, she has! I didn't think she could get it done in less than thirty hours, but she did!"_ Roman half-laughs, half-growls, like he's angry at himself for being wrong about da Vinci's capabilities. _"Now I have to buy her a whole box of Toblerones, and I don't know if Amazon shipping reaches the top of the Alps!"_

"W-We'll buy that for you!" Matthew glances over the hologram at me. "Um, right, Senpai?"

"Sure, yeah! Just, Roman, when you give it to her, take one for yourself so that you can go _fuck_ yourself!"

 _"BUT WHAT DID I DO!?"_ Roman wails quite tragically.

Growling to myself now in frustration, I quickly turn to my computer screen so that I can rush through the rest of my workload. "We'll be over there as soon as I'm done! I thought you said Singularities weren't supposed to show up so soon after the last one, Roman!"

 _"Hey, but I never said they couldn't, either!"_

Rolling my eyes, I slam my fingers against the keys of my keyboard, going briefly into office-cubicle overdrive and then moving my arms and hands like a magician to reorganize all the files on my desk back neatly into place in their respective file holders on the side table.

"Tam, Kiyo, get everyone over to Chaldea, we'll meet you there," I instruct Caster without looking, setting up the email chain that I use to let my business partners and associates know that I'll once again be away on personal business.

"T-Tam!?" Tamamo cries, clutching her cheeks with her hands tightly. "K- _Kyaaaaaaaa,_ Master, I-I don't deserve such a cute nicknaaaaammeeee!"

"That's not the point right now! Kiyo, snap her out of it 'n get goin'!"

"Kiyooooo ~ " Kiyohime also sings happily.

 _"You too!?"_

"I'll let everyone know, Senpai!" Matthew volunteers, having picked up the apple tray to put it away in the kitchen before teleporting off to Chaldea. "Lady Tamamo, Lady Kiyohime, please come to Chaldea with Senpai, we'll be waiting for you there!"

So Matthew takes her leave first with Fou, and I can hear her alerting the rest of the Servants downstairs as I jam my finger into the enter key to send off the email chain. Standing up and shutting down my office computer, I drop my Desert Eagles out of their magical storage runes to check their conditions. They're good enough; I would've liked to properly take care of them, but the past day or so of playing catch up with the work I missed from handling the previous Singularity didn't really help my case. Meanwhile, Tamamo and Kiyohime are both stuck in flowers and daydreams with the nicknames that I've accidentally given them, so I groan, drop my handguns back into their storage runes, and pick up both girls, one in each arm, to rush down the stairs and into the portal in the basement. Thankfully both Tamamo and Kiyohime are not only rather short but also are very light - I feel like if I hold them any tighter, they'll snap like twigs, even though I know they won't. I'd be a little alarmed if Servants were that easy to kill...

In any case, the three of us, naturally being the last ones to warp through, pop out of the portal on the other side inside Chaldea, where Saber, Lily, Jeanne, and George are waiting for our arrival, all of them already geared up and ready for another Singularity.

"Have you prepared adequately, Master?" Artoria asks me sternly. I'd like to say that she still vividly remembers our run-in from yesterday, but now's not the time to bring that shit up, so I let it be.

"Not as much as I would'a liked, but since we've got a lot of Servants going with us, it should balance that out, I guess," I shrug, and the Servants and I leave the portal room to head to the Rayshift deck, where the rest of the Servants have already gone to.

When we reach it, we find the rest of the Servants, also all properly equipped in their usual Servant garb and weapons, waiting in the Rayshift deck, along with Da Vinci, Olga, and Roman.

"Anything we should know before we head out, you three?" I ask the usual Chaldea staff. "Also, da Vinci, how many Toblerones you want?"

"Oh, my, my, has the good Doctor passed on his responsibility off to you again?" Da Vinci asks quaintly, though she swiftly sidesteps over next to Roman before he can slink out of the way and puts an arm around his waist, pulling him in close with the power of a Servant and causing him to start choking and wheezing with the pressure.

"Unlike before, this Singularity's been a bit more forgiving in that we have at least some background information on it, thanks to Da Vinci linking SHIVA and Trismegistus together," the Director informs me, shaking her head at Da Vinci's and Roman's antics. "You'll be sent to 1st Century Italy. Or, in other words, Ancient Rome."

"Rome, huh," I remark off-handedly. I'd studied quite a lot about the Roman Empire back in school - I'd even taken four years of Latin in high school, though how much Latin I remember now is...shaky, at best.

"Ah, ah, yes, it was Rome, Rome!" Da Vinci squeals, relinquishing Roman and leaving him to double over, trying to catch his breath. "Director, permission to travel with Signore August for this Singularity, _per favore ~ ?"_

"But, wait, da Vinci, you need to stay here and help me assist them!" Roman objects, still wheezing a little.

"But you can already handle the observations all on your own. Olga's here for the time being as well, and she's already volunteered to assist if she's needed as well," Da Vinci reminds him.

"I-I can't do _much_ , okay? There's a reason I pay _you_ two to handle this kind of thing!" Olga blurts out, however. "But anyway! Since these Singularities are way different than the ones we were initially geared to observe, that's all we've been able to glean from the situation. Whatever you did in the last Singularity, do it again here, and make adjustments wherever necessary to fix it and bring the Grail there back."

"Will you have a paycheck ready for me this time when we come back?" I ask her dryly.

 _"I'M WORKING ON IT, OKAY!? NOW STOP ASKING ME, GOSH!"_ Olga straight up roars at my face before stomping off. I wipe the saliva that's flown out of her mouth off my face as Roman clears his throat uncomfortably.

"Yeah, August, um, you could...you could, like, uh, not ask her that as much..." the Doctor suggests timidly.

"Says the guy asking me to buy Toblerones for him. You dump _how_ much money into Magi Mari and your account _still_ looks like shit? No wonder you can't buy any of your own gifts."

"O-Ouch...everyone's a bully today..." Roman hangs his head, lethargically turning and dragging his feet back to the command station to activate the localized Rayshift.

"Alright, then I guess I'll be joining everyone this time, yay ~ " Da Vinci gives off a cute little cheer. "I've always wanted to sit down and have a nice little chat with a Roman Emperor. I wonder who we'll meet...? Anyway, everyone, let's step onto the Rayshift platform here, it's big enough to accommodate everybody, so don't be shy ~ "

"Ugh...Rome...?" Tamamo groans - she's had a look of rising discomfort ever since Olga first mentioned Rome. "Why do I get the feeling that _she's_ gonna show up...?"

"Who?"

"Remember that time when I told you about that 'Red Saber' Servant?"

"Oh, yeah. We gonna meet her here, you think?"

"Knowing _my_ luck..." Tamamo pouts. "She and I always seem to run into each other, for some reason..."

"Would you rather not?"

"Well, it's - " Tamamo hesitates. "It's...it's complicated..."

"Hm. Guess I'll have to see it for myself."

Once all of us have relocated onto the Rayshift platform, which is positively huge, by the way, thanks to Da Vinci's foresight that we'd probably come to house a _lot_ of Servants with the rate at which we're going, the lights in the Rayshift room darken, while floodlight-like lights from the floor below begin to glow.

 _"I'm activating the Rayshift sequence. Since we're not using it to properly Rayshift people back in time, it's basically a glorified mega-teleporter now,"_ Roman explains from the control room. _"See you all on the other side! Good luck!"_

As Roman's amped voice fades away, a female autotune voice plays over the speakers instead to replace him as the platform beneath me and my Servants begins to emit blue wisps of energy that quickly congeal, thicken, and rotate clockwise. I get the feeling that if viewed from above, the platform would look something like a small black hole, just with blue energy instead of black.

 _"REAL-TIME DISPLACEMENT PROGRAM START._

 _LOCATION TRANSFER START._

 _RECALL STARTING IN 3...2...1..._

 _ALL PROCEDURES CLEARED._

 _GRAND ORDER REDUX COMMENCING OPERATION..."_

The blue light from below converts itself into white, blinding me and removing Chaldea from view.


	63. Rolling Hills

Blinking, I catch a small gust of hillside breeze full in the face. It's a nice breeze - the type that'd make you want to fall fast asleep while you lay down on some comfortable cool grass somewhere in a park. Too bad now's not the time for that, despite the fact that, conveniently enough, it appears we've Rayshifted right onto the top of a grassy hill.

"Amazing..." I hear Kiyohime utter breathlessly to my right in Japanese as she and many of the other Servants who've Rayshifted here with me take a few moments to look around and analyze our setting. "Master, what do you think? This'll make a fantastic location to build our new home for our family-to-be, yes?"

"You mean _my_ home with him...?" Tamamo glomps her immediately before she can get close to me, giving her quite the devious look. "Don't you go trying to steal him, Kiyo-chan ~ "

"But indeed, this is quite a beautiful landscape," Jeanne remarks with a luminescent smile of her own, joining me with Jalter in tow. "It's hard to believe that a Singularity would take place here..."

"I mean, along that logic, the last Singularity where we found you was the same way," I shrug.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, it looked kinda like this, I guess. Sunny, breezy, nice 'n calm where we landed..."

But as I'm listing off my praises for the previous Singularity and this one, I arch my neck upwards.

"...and that ring up there."

The Servants around me also follow suit to gaze up at the sky. Perhaps I didn't take note of this before, but that weird distortion of light that forms a huge ring in the atmosphere looms over us. I don't remember seeing that ring of distorted light back in the first Singularity where we found Salter, seeing as it was nighttime back then and we weren't necessarily paying attention at the sky, but we first saw that ring in the Orleans Singularity, and it appears that it's followed us here to this Roman Singularity too. That'll be our evidence that this is in fact a Singularity we've got on our hands - I wonder if worrying about creepy girls crawling out of wells and television screens somewhere is a legitimate concern to have at this moment.

"So I know I should've asked this before, but Da Vinci, have you or Roman ever manage to figure out what that ring up there's about?" I ask.

"We are still in the middle of investigation, but for starters, to state the obvious, it is clearly a mark of these Singularities," Da Vinci shrugs too. "It suggests that these Singularities are not simply random disturbances in local historical space-time, but rather an interconnected series of premeditated timeline fractures that are intended to work together to achieve a common goal. Unfortunately for us, there's only so much we can analyze at the moment just from looking at that big ring in the sky; to continue our investigation, we would require concrete clues that perhaps these Singularities can provide."

"Hm." I digest Da Vinci's response for a moment. "And by 'interconnected series of premeditated timeline fractures', what do you mean by that? Because so far, the only thing that connects these Singularities together is the ring. Assuming that the ring was in the first Singularity too, which it probably was, there wasn't much else of a similarity between that one and the Orleans one, right?"

"Again, we would need to find clues to formulate a proper answer to that within these Singularities. Personally, I would advise not to expect to find such clues so swiftly or easily; we have an unknown number of Singularities ahead of us, after all, any of which could contain the answers we seek." Da Vinci reaches over and flicks me in the middle of the forehead, underneath the visor of my Pulp Fiction cap. "I know that you are the type who demands swift and decisive answers with your lines of work, but this is called the Grand Order for a reason, Signore Mercenary Mage. I daresay some patience will be required for this particular endeavor, _si?"_

Rubbing my forehead a little, I give no reply as I straighten my cap.

"More importantly, Senpai, how are you feeling?" Matthew asks me, resting her huge cross-shield behind her to her right while Fou skillfully rides on her right shoulder.

"Fine, why?"

"We made sure to have Chaldea's mana reserves fully operating to assist with Grand Order operations, so you won't have to shoulder the burden of providing mana all on your own."

"But we're practically in another dimension, how're the reserves getting mana here?"

 _"Just like how we're able to send transmissions to you even from here,"_ the Doc pipes in, his usual hologram self blowing up in front of us from the small projection device on Matthew's chest that's woven into her combat uniform. _"It's just that for the reserve mana, we're using Matthew's shield as a receptor. Think of it kind of as a wireless amplifier; Matthew's shield receives the mana and distributes it to the Servants around you. It'd be too inefficient to send mana to each Servant individually and directly; it's much more efficient to consolidate the mana's transfer point to a sturdy magical object and then have the mana transfer over to whoever needs it."_

Silently to myself, I note that Roman _would_ use wireless modems as an analogy here with all the time he's spent playing Magi Mari.

"And that's all thanks to yours truly ~ " Da Vinci takes a bow, even though no one asked her to. "Not only that, but the mana being consolidated in Matthew's shield can also double as reinforcement mana, so it should let her take hits that she couldn't before. Though, that being said, I wouldn't recommend that anyway, since it could risk interrupting the flow of reserve mana to everyone here."

"So protect Matthew. Okay, got it." I sternly nod, offering a brief thumbs-up gesture that clashes a bit against the stoic nature of my facial expression.

"S-Senpai, that's supposed to be _my_ job..." Matthew whines softly, while Fou whines along with her.

 _"Actually, back to the task at hand, I notice that you're on some hill somewhere?"_ Roman calls over. _"Huh, that's weird...I'd deliberately set the coordinates for your Rayshift to put you somewhere near the capital, or at least where Ancient Rome should've been..."_

"Nope, Blue Toblerone Piggy, this's most definitely a hill we're standing on..." Elizabeth calls over, her conspicuous tail waving cheerfully back and forth. Maybe she likes it here.

"Master, everyone," Artoria suddenly calls out, grabbing everyone's attention. "Silence. Do you hear that?"

Having all obliged and maintaining a moment of silence, we listen for anything that seems out of the ordinary. And sure enough, with the breeze blowing past us, it carries along the sounds of -

" - a battle," St. George notes seriously. "Spears, swords...at quite the rapid pace, too."

"A fierce battle, by the sounds of it," Siegfried agrees.

 _"Battle? No, wait, hold on, that can't be right, there was no major war or conflict at this point in time, I don't think. First Century Rome, right? Yeah, there shouldn't be any major conflict at this time!"_ Roman exclaims.

"Welp, there's our first order of business, I guess," I remark, tightening the ends of my black fingerless gloves.

 _"Right. If there're forces trying to sack Rome right now, stop them! At least, Rome doesn't get sacked right now!"_

"Wow, harsh, Roman."

 _"Says the one who makes fun of me for my mobile game spending decisions!"_

"Mobile games aside, Sen - I mean, Master, your orders!" Matthew urges.

"Defend Rome, I guess. Let's get goin'."

"Everyone, look out for a short girl about Artoria-san's height and with her face, except in red clothes and no armor!" Tamamo advises everyone as we get a move on, striding around the hill towards the sounds of the battle ensuing beyond this hill.

"Yes, quite! If she happens to say 'Umu' a lot, then you'll know it's her!" Elizabeth chimes in too.

"Ah, the impersonator who possesses the same face as mine?!" Artoria shouts, and I think I can detect some annoyance in her voice.

"Seems like you all already know who we should look for," I add.

"If we're in Rome, and it's the First Century, then there shouldn't be anyone else," Tamamo sighs. "And just like that - you can see her in the distance, can't you?"

As we round the hill to get a peek at the landscape behind the front of the hill, on the other side from where we spawned after the Rayshift, in the big valley in between several more rolling hills, several masses of troops donning the same set of colors, crimson and gold, with the only difference separating their identities being a different insignia or perhaps crest emblazoned on the armor and banners of the smaller force. Now that we're on this side of the hill, the sounds of battle, the clanging of steel and the shouts of men, while still faint, are much more audible now.

And in the middle of this undoubtedly fierce battle, even from this distance, I can easily make out the sight of a woman in, sure enough, red clothes running amok through her enemies' lines, tearing through them with wide but graceful swings of a sword that's leaving behind fire trails in its wake. A flame sword, huh? I'm a fan already.

"So that's our VIP, then?" I squint off in the distance, having slowed to a stop to analyze the situation from afar before we commit to a fight.

"Quite. It seems she's the same as ever - if we were in a digital world, we'd be right back where we met," Tamamo murmurs.

Wondering what Tamamo's going on about, I pull out Mustang and aim downrange at the battle ensuing before us.

"Everyone except Kiyo, Tam, Da Vinci, and Matthew, go support the woman in red and her troops; we'll provide ranged support where we can," I order, and my Servants comply and start barreling down the hill, charging into the fray to back up our Singularity's VIP. While they rush towards the scene, I charge my handgun with magical energy, wishing that I'd had the time to prepare a proper long-range rifle. Having that AX-50 right now sounds mighty convenient, but no use complaining about the lack of equipment at this point.

"Hm - that girl..." I hear Da Vinci comment behind me to my left while the muzzle of my Desert Eagle starts brimming with flames.

"What about her?" I ask.

"Signora Tamamo, you can sense it too, yes? Seeing that you know her," Da Vinci calls over.

"Yes indeed," Tamamo nods, holding up with one hand a swirling orb of dark purple energy that she likes chucking around in battle, which is by now the size of a small wrecking ball. "She's a Servant."

"How's that surprising, though? We've run into plenty of Servants in the last Singularity," I shrug. "And she's ripping those guys a new one down there. Sure seems like a Servant to me, too."

"August, you don't quite understand," Da Vinci replies curtly. "That girl down there leading the outnumbered troops - she is the Emperor of Rome for the current timeframe of this Singularity, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. She is supposed to be ruling during this time. You should know enough about Servants to know what is wrong with this Singularity, then, I presume?"

Da Vinci need not even finish that statement for me recognize the problem at hand.

"Right."

I pull the trigger of my pistol immediately afterwards.

The charged shot that I fire rockets out of the muzzle of my .44-caliber Desert Eagle in a miniature fireball - it travels much slower than an actual bullet, but nevertheless it still soars across the sky, quickly catching up to my Servants charging across the grass field to engage the enemy troops of the girl in red fighting valiantly alone with her own sparse troops behind her in support. As it streaks across the blue and white air, once it hits midway, it splits into eight separate splinters without warning, like a fragmentation round hitting its target, except the flaming splinters zip straight over to the enemy troops, homing themselves towards the rear lines so that they won't accidentally inflict friendly fire onto our VIP and her own forces.

"Wonderful shot, Master ~ " Kiyohime coos as we watch the fire fragments crash into the field at the base of one of the distant hills where the battle is taking place, the eight splinters peppering the enemy force with small, concentrated blasts of flame in rapid succession.

"Ei - ya ~ "

Not to be outdone, seemingly, Tamamo also chucks her dark purple energy ball one-handed, and it sprints across the field many times faster than my slow fire bullet and almost immediately slams itself into the rear lines of the enemy like a beach ball against the sand.

"Okay, Tamamo-san, now you're just showing off," Kiyohime scolds her friend, rapping the side of Caster's scalp with her steel fan.

As the two of them bicker for a moment, I silently cast another Comsat Scan up into the air, letting loose the wide ring of mana that expands rapidly to pick up any other signatures in our vicinity like a bat travels through the night using echolocation, except my spell continues to travel outwards even after bouncing off something that's in the way.

But to my silent alarm, my Scan spell rebounds from the north much faster than I expect from directly ahead of us, just over the hill whose base is where the troops we see in the distance are fighting.

"Bad news, ladies, there's another large group headed our way from just beyond that hill," I inform the Servants escorting me, pointing at the hill in question.

"Doctor, please confirm this new force!" Matthew calls as soon as I report my finding.

 _"Gimme a second - yeah, confirmed, I'm picking up a large group of humans by the looks of it headed over that hill you're talking about. They're might be reinforcements for the enemy troops, but I can't confirm that much!"_

"Those reinforcements're going up the hill from the left, kind of. We can reach them and intercept if we move now," I suggest.

"But, Master, those other Servants will be able to kill them all without a problem," Kiyohime points out, now that my talking has snapped her and Tamamo out of their little verbal catfight.

"But those reinforcements're coming at an angle that'll be annoying for them to cover. If we cover that angle for them, they'll clean up at ground zero quick. And I'd rather not just stand around just watching, y'know?"

"If that's what Master wants ~ !" Tamamo tosses out several copies of her mirrors. "All aboar - hey, Master - !?"

I don't even bother with Tamamo's mirror transport because the hill isn't really that far away, maybe about three quarters of a mile, maybe a mile, and I leap off the slight slope of our current hill to trampoline my way up into the air, using the blue runes that I cast beneath my feet that I use as temporary solid platforms. And once I reach a good height where I have an aerial view of the enemy reinforcements, I continuously cast my platforms ahead of me like a blue boardwalk. The enemy troops indeed have the same color scheme as the troops that our VIP is fighting, so I know it's safe to engage them.

As I draw nearer, I notice that the troops have seen me running across the air, and some of them are pointing up at me in disbelief and wonder. Not surprising, given that I'm not exactly trying to hide my approach, but what's more important is that they have quite the ranks of archers; presumably they were approaching from this angle to have a good line of fire down to the red girl's troops.

As soon as I spot their number of archers, I leap off my platform spell with a magically powered leap, freefalling down to the top of the hill briefly. No enemy Servants in the area, which means I can go ham, so I do: pulling my right fist back, I gather flames into it, manipulating its mana composition so that when I hit the ground, the mana that I'm charging my fist with will push the flames along the ground and spread, rather than drilling into the ground like it normally would. The sight of the archers hurrying to nock their bows with arrows to aim at me, though, compels me to hasten my progress, so I push off another platform spell upside-down and rocket down to the top of the hill, practically superman-punching the dirt when I land.

As planned, my flame-powered punch causes fire to blast against the ground away from my impact point and toss it up into the air, like how water gets splashed when something is thrown into a pond, except just in a much more violent manner. I've aimed myself deliberately to land in the middle of the archers to get rid of the threat that they'll pose to our friendly troops as quickly as possible, and many an enemy archer gets launched into the air with the help of the blooming flames, either burning to death or not. It doesn't matter if they've actually caught fire; if they've been thrown into the air, since they're normal humans, they'll have a bad day when gravity pulls them back down.

Ripping my right fist out of the soft dirt that's been heated by my flames, I stand up quickly in case there was anyone brave enough to charge at me and challenge me directly. The flames that I've struck up are immediately belching a good quantity of smoke, providing me a convenient little smokescreen that obscures my position for the time being, though if the enemy archers are smart, they'll blindfire their arrows straight through to try to hit me, so I can't stay here long.

Snapping my fingers in the direction of the archers before me, I blindly detonate a magical explosion, and the screams of the soldiers hit by it confirms its effectiveness, though I think I only hear about three, maybe four people who've been hit by it, judging by the number of screams I hear. Still a lot more work to do.

I burst through the smoke without warning to face the archers head-on, and the surviving enemy archers closest to the impact zone are trying to back away from the smoke to put some distance in between themselves and me if possible, which is exactly what I don't want. Well, more accurately, it's what _they_ want, because my handguns give me the speed and range that I need to take them down and cause even more havoc. Guns roaring, I rapidly spam shots at the enemy crowd, and soldier after soldier gets knocked down, unable to offer any answer to my modern rapid-fire projectile weapons when all they have are primitive bows and arrows, and maybe a few short swords for several of them.

Even still, the archers in the very rear, finally gaining sight on me, start firing arrows over at me in a desperate attempt to get rid of me, or at least dissuade me from continuing the assault. Having already reloaded, I waste the rest of my rounds and toss my guns aside to close in - my ranged charged shots are too inefficient mana-wise to use at close quarters, so ditching my pistols for a more melee-oriented approach is the better option. I also hear the soldiers with swordsmen in the front ranks rushing over to assist, now that they've finally snapped out of their fear and confusion from my initial attack, so I need to get to work quickly.

Flash-stepping just in time to avoid the first few arrows being shot at me, I brake hard in front of the nearest enemy soldier who's trying to back away while aiming an arrow in my direction at the same time, and before he can loose his arrow in surprise at the sight of me appearing out of nowhere right in front of him, I slash my right hand upwards, producing a sharp arc of white light that shows itself for only a few sixtieths of a second before knocking the soldier backwards, and he falls to the ground, immediately dead from having the front half of his head split open by my Knifetouch slash. I snap my fingers immediately with my left hand, quickly casting an incomplete version of Presence Concealment on myself that will dispel on its own after about six seconds, or if I perform an action with hostile intent, i.e. make an attack, so this way, the soldiers suddenly don't know where I am immediately after killing this soldier.

Leaping over the first row of archers to get behind them so that I put a barrier between myself and the swordsmen coming to the aid of their comrades, I land in the middle of a small squad of enemy soldiers with bows and arrows, pivot, and slash wide, flinging my arm across my front in almost a complete 180-degree arc. With the amount of power I put into my next slash, the bodies of about twenty of the soldiers standing in the direction that my slash is aimed get parted in half, and a few men on the fringes of my slash start shrieking with pain, as the ends of my slash have managed to tear their sides or backs open straight through their armor.

While I'm slashing my way through the enemy archers with wide swipes and cuts, I hear explosions going off alarmingly close, probably the talismans that Tamamo is tossing down to cover me, and I also hear a dragon, for some reason, screeching as it swoops down and blasts the top of the hill with bellowed flames of its own. Not to be distracted, I turn quickly to a few archers who've dropped their bows and are charging at me with their short swords instead, yelling their war cries bravely as Roman soldiers would in this era. I flash-step towards them to meet them first, burying my fist into the gut of the first soldier to make him reel over violently, and I grab the sword out of his hand as his grip falters from my gut punch and shove the sword straight into the eye of the soldier to my left before he has time to react; the blade draws blood and sinks into his skull while scraping past the side of his own blade, which was too late to stop the one that I've stolen to slay him. The third soldier, to my right, roars and swings his sword at my own head in a sideways swing, which I raise my arm to parry. The burst of mana from the back of my right arm is strong enough to knock the sword right out of the soldier's hand; if he'd held it with both hands, maybe he would've still held onto it, but that's his mistake, not mine, and I make him pay for it by aiming my fingers directly at his head and concentrating my mana like a bullet, firing it off at his face and launching him about six feet backwards. Finally, I pull up the soldier whose gut I've punched while he's having the dry heaves, turn him around, and slit his throat with a quick slash of my left hand, as if I'm slitting his throat with a knife - though that analogy is probably a bit redundant.

By this point, the rest of the archers, able to see not only the carnage that I'm wreaking but also the flying Caster launching energy balls and talismans down at them and the teal serpent-like dragon chomping on human snacks and hissing flames at those it can't reach with its jaws, break formation and make a run for it, fleeing down the side of the hill. Unfortunately for them, there's no cover available for them to hide behind or hide in, as we're on the hills, and I toss the dead body in my arms off to the side while watching Da Vinci fire off her robotic arm down at the escaping enemies from the air and have it explode magnificently.

"Master, are you alright?!" Matthew calls down as she descends quickly on her mirror that Tamamo's kindly provided for her, as she's the only one who doesn't appear to possess a method of short-distance transportation. Fou is also leaning over her shoulder to look down at me as they land next to me.

"Yep, that went better than I thought," I shrug, turning around to see where the serpent dragon is, only to find Kiyohime calmly walking down from the blazing pit of fire behind her to join us as well, and Tamamo and Da Vinci also promptly join us too.

"It looked like our Servants have cleaned up on the other side of this hill too," Da Vinci says after landing on the ground; I guess she's able to fly with the help of her staff or cape or something, but because it's Da Vinci, I don't quite find myself too surprised at the fact that she's devised herself a method of aerial transportation. "Let's go talk to that emperor, shall we? I know I sure do ~ "

Nero, she said, right? Yeah, I'd like to talk to her too about something...


	64. The Red Emperor

Tamamo, Da Vinci, Kiyohime, and I arrive at the base of the small valley, having crossed the strewn bodies of the enemy soldiers my Servants have put down for the sake of the woman in red and her troops. Speaking of the woman in red, having keenly watched me approach, she vigorously steps up to me with a large red sword that looks more like an ornamental sword that's never meant to be used as an actual weapon, given its design. But I guess when you're a Servant, your choice of weaponry can transcend the normal philosophies of humans and the physics of the world.

"Urk..." I hear Tamamo groan under her breath; she wasn't really looking too comfortable to begin with the moment we started heading over to regroup with everyone. The lady in red with the curved red sword plants herself gallantly before me, even though she's very clearly half a foot shorter than I am, perhaps more. Why does she look _exactly_ the same as Artoria again?

"You there! You who calls yourself a Master, according to your Servants!" the short lady declares, but she does so with such a booming voice that it sounds like she's straight yelling in my face as I halt before her, even though I know she's not trying to yell. "They have fought with swift beauty and grace. Although I would have liked to see more...quickness and swift efficiency are both beautiful qualities in and of themselves. Though..."

She peers intently at me, as if examining me from head to toe.

"...it appears the fashion of the future is just as strange as it always has been," she scratches her head briefly.

"So you know who I am and what we're here for, then?" I ask her bluntly.

" _Ita vero!"_ she cries, and her sudden Latin strikes me hard, because I realize that, after all, we're supposed to be in first century Rome, so Latin is the language here...yet, she still speaks fluent English. "Your Servants have debriefed me on the situation after helping us dispatch of the enemy. I think I see what is going on now..."

The girl in red trails off for a moment, her eyes start becoming somewhat unfocused, and her gaze drops steadily. I sense something from her, but I don't know what it is, and before I know it, she's snapped back to focus.

"My grandest apologies, this is not the time to be discussing such matters," she shakes her head profusely. "I see that there are a few familiar faces you have brought with you, however!"

"Yes, it's _good_ to _see_ you, Miss Nero Claudius," Tamamo frowns with a big ol' pout from over my shoulder.

"And the same to you, Miss Tamamo-no-Mae! A pity you could not have arrived at a more splendid time, however, with the United Empire fools knocking on my door all day and night for the past month...giving you a grand tour of my palace will have to wait, it seems."

"Not that I'd really take you up on that offer, though."

Nero just laughs. "Oh, that won't do, Caster! Shyness may be beautiful, but not always in every circumstance! Besides, I was never one for shyness anyhow!"

"Yes, and it clearly shows."

But Nero ignores that last bit. "Now then, before we continue on, what is your name, dear Master?"

"Augustus," I answer, figuring that my government name would be more appropriate to use here. "Augustus Il. You can call me August for short."

"A-Augustus?!" Nero positively barks, and at first I think I hear a bit of an angry streak in her voice, but she quickly hides it and clears her throat. "I...I see. For a moment, I almost tricked myself into thinking that you were perhaps the second coming of our beloved First Citizen..."

"First Emperor Augustus, right? No, I'm not related to him, I just happen to share the name. Sorry about that," I say quickly.

"That is alright; your forgiveness is warranted. Umu, I shall allow it! For you to control all these Servants at once, surely you are a powerful Master, and thus the name Augustus shall suit you well!" Nero proudly nods to herself, putting her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest. Because she wears epaulette sleeves that are detached from the rest of her dress, there remains a large ring of her skin that is exposed, and more than 70% of that skin coverage is located in her cleavage. Said cleavage also pops out a little when she puffs out her chest. "I am Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Fifth Emperor of the Roman Empire, and the _true_ Emperor of the Roman Empire! Because you have assisted me and have shown your willingness to join swords with me and not the United Empire, I doubt you would have thought this anyway, but allow me to say this: let not the false prophecies of the treacherous United Empire lead you astray, for _I_ am the emperor who wields the will of Jupiter and the beautiful people of Rome!"

Without changing the expression on my face, I just stand there and give a brief golf clap at Nero's solo bravado. It's meant to be subtly sarcastic, but to my nonexistent surprise, Nero doesn't catch the sarcasm part and seems very pleased that I've given her what she thinks is a standing ovation, if she even knows what that is.

"Umu! Now, let us depart from this place; I left behind orders to keep the capital city sealed off for defense, and now that we have dispatched of the enemies in this area, we must return before reinforcements can potentially cut us off. August, have your Servants escort me and my troops back to the city; in return, I shall tell you what you wish to know about this Singularity."

I nod in agreement. "Sure thing. A'ight, everyone, you heard her, let's get everyone back to the city in one piece. Emperor, if you'd lead the way, please."

Nero gives me a mighty, aristocratic grin, but one that's filled with genuine sincerity when I look past the grandeur that she's constantly acting out her words and behavior with.

"Then it is settled!" Nero thunders at her men in Latin, of which I can only understand little bits and pieces, causing them to snap to attention and begin marching, before she turns to me again. "I shall bestow upon you the honor of marching with me, O Master - _non_ , O Praetor."

With her booming voice, she continues to direct her surviving troops towards the direction from whence they've marched and strides forward quickly to reach the front ranks so that she can lead them in the front, as perhaps a proud emperor like herself should.

"Everyone, space yourselves out to surround the army here," I instruct my Servants as I follow Nero up to the front, while Mash and Tamamo both tag along behind me. "Make sure not to leave any holes open in our formation."

Before we can regroup with Nero up at the front, Tamamo tugs on my sleeve silently to slow me down.

"Master, Da Vinci-san mentioned this briefly before we began our attack earlier, but Saber - er, Nero-san - is a Servant. You've noticed that, yes?" Caster murmurs to me in Japanese, and Mash, interested to listen in, shifts closer to us to eavesdrop discretely.

"Yeah, she talked about it a bit. Why, what's up?"

"She's not supposed to be a Servant, not in this time period."

"I know, because this _is_ her time period."

Tamamo nods. "And so far, she has spoken as if she knows that she is a Servant."

"So what's the problem here? 'Cause I don't really see one at the moment."

"The problem is that if the historical Nero who lived during this time is still alive, there is a _huge_ chance that the Servant Nero and the living Nero will have met," Tamamo patiently explains. "That in itself is dangerous, as it could create historical paradoxes."

"...and tell me how that's any different from fixing this Singularity, which is what we're here to do."

"Because if...if it comes down to it..." Tamamo drops her voice considerably.

"I'm listening."

"...we may have to kill her. The Servant, that is."

"Hm. But if Nero as a Servant is here, isn't the real Nero already dead? That was the case with Jeanne, how she was summoned in France literally days after her own execution."

"Perhaps, but..."

"...but?"

Tamamo groans, pressing her left shoulder with my right. "It's making me nervous...I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since I realized it was Nero we were meeting..."

"Oh, so you do care about her, then."

Tamamo almost flips out when I say that.

"Bl-Blasphemy! I-I'd never - " Tamamo cries, getting all flustered at my benign accusation.

"What was with the whole 'don't ever summon Red Saber' thing from before when you care about her this much? It's alright, Tammy, everyone's got a dirty little secret to share. What's yours with Ner-fffbbb."

Caster forcibly cuts off my words by slapping a glowing talisman over my mouth.

"Geez, asking for a girl's secrets like that so nonchalantly, you really have no delicacy in you, do you?" Tamamo grumbles, her cheeks flushed proportional to her embarrasment.

Unable to say another word, I quicken my own gait to rendezvous with Nero at the front of the small army - it's more the size of a company by this point, though.

"Umu! You've decided to join me," Nero beams as I take her side, along with Tamamo and Mash. "Though I don't recall inviting these others by my side as well."

"Oh _,_ _excuse me_ , Miss Saber, I can't perform my duties as my Master's ever-faithful wife and Servant?" Tamamo curtly fires back.

"Sorry, but you'll have to let me keep these two by me. This is a Singularity, after all, so they're keen on defending me at all times if that's alright with you," I explain in Tamamo's stead. At this, Nero frowns quite dramatically.

"So you mean to say that my own marvelous swordsmanship is not enough to meet your expectations?" she pouts quite angrily. "Then so be it. Ambushes have been as common as my festivals and my arena games in my earlier years, so doubtless there shall be another one or two before we reach the capital. I shall use that as an opportunity to prove that my swordsmanship is, in fact, peerless and more than enough for your protection!"

"Oh ho ~ she's using such big words and making such dramatic boasts as always ~ " Tamamo teases with a smirk, holding a hand over her lips so that her smirk isn't as easily seen. "What will you do, Miss Saber? Rely on that absolute cheat of a skill called Imperial Privilege for your so-called swordsmanship skills as you always do?"

"Enough of you, Caster! I see that our rivalry from the Moon Cell has not dampened your spirits!" Nero snaps back. "And besides, what are _you_ calling a cheat of a skill? Truly, this is a case of 'a pot calling the kettle black', if I may use a phrase Praetor is familiar with in his language!"

"But I don't have any cheap skills like that of my own, though," Tamamo whistles innocently. "I'm just a humble Caster who's trained diligently day in and day out for mastership over these talismans, nothing more ~ "

"Lies! Those are naught but _lies_ , Praetor!" Nero turns to me, strongly pointing her finger at Caster to my right. "Praetor, I tell you now, be wary of that fox! It may be that you have already become bewitched by her charm and her Oriental spells!"

"Too late," I croak back dryly too.

"Ugh! The bewitching Caster claims yet another victim! Shall we stop here and have me free you from her shackles!?"

"No, I was just kidding, let's not fight each other."

"U-Umu." Nero calms herself down awkwardly. "You are thinking of my condition and the days of fighting my men and I have been through - and still the future conflicts yet to reveal themselves. You are quite considerate, Praetor."

Not exactly the reason I had in mind, but hey, that works too.

"Anyhow! Caster keeps getting me sidetracked, as she is wont to do," Nero states. "Your Servants have given me a brief understanding of the situation on your end, but I would like to hear it directly from you, Praetor. Explain to me this Chaldea and this Singularity in which we all find ourselves in."

"Chaldea's an organization from the future, which is where I'm from. Two thousand years in the future, to be precise," I reply curtly and without hesitation. "It's dedicated to the preservation of humanity, to unsure that no magical threats endanger the future of humanity as a species and to maximize humanity's chances of longevity. While I'm not directly involved within Chaldea's ranks of command, I'm a freelance mage who's signed a contract with them to act as a mercenary mage, and they call upon me to handle whatever task they deem necessary for me to undertake."

"U-Umu, so a mercenary..." Nero doesn't sound too thrilled to hear that.

"You don't like mercenaries, I take it?"

"No, no, you misunderstand, Praetor! There is nothing wrong with pursuing a mercenary career! It's just...umu." Nero trails off without really answering my question.

"If you're willing to put your trust into someone whom you've only known for more than ten minutes, I'd like you to know that I have no plans of attacking you or your empire at any point because that would be contrary to our objective and thus self-defeating."

"Is that so? Umu! That is well! Quite the reliable Praetor I have!" the Roman emperor suddenly laughs heartily, not even trying to hide her relief - well, maybe she thinks that her laughter could hide it, but it really doesn't. "But more about this objective of yours. I assume it has something to do with this 'Singularity' that you call our era?"

"Yes. Currently this general area, which we'll designate as your Roman Empire, is under the influence of what we call a Singularity, which is a chrono-geological anomaly created by a massive magical disturbance that, if left alone for a long enough time, will create holes in humanity's historical timeline and distort reality, potentially ruining humanity by creating time paradoxes in every stage of human history. Chaldea has taken on the responsibility of resolving these Singularities, and I've been dispatched, along with the Servants who've come with me, to resolve them in Chaldea's name."

As I'm lecturing Nero, the Roman emperor's face itself distorts slowly but surely the longer I drone on and on. I notice this halfway, so the moment I'm done, I ask her,

"Was that too long of an explanation?"

"H-Hardly, umu! I understand perfectly!" she claims.

"Then can you repeat to me what Chaldea's responsibility is and why I'm here talking to you right now?"

"Uuuuu..." Nero starts looking nervous and rubs her knuckles against the bottom of her chin, trying to remember. "Uuuu, that...that this Singularity is no good and that it must be stopped!"

My eye twitches, but I don't really feel like it's proper for just an ordinary commoner like me to be lecturing a Roman Emperor, of all people, so I just let this one slide.

"Close enough."

"Umu! My intellect has proven itself yet again on this day!" Nero puffs out her chest quite proudly for someone who barely summarized my past minute's worth of words, but then she starts rubbing her forehead. " _V-Vae..._ my migraines are returning at a rather inopportune moment..."

"What, just from a bit 'a thinking?"

"I-It was not merely 'a bit of thinking'! By Jupiter, you sound quite like Seneca!" Nero complains emphatically.

"Seneca? As in Seneca the Younger?"

"'The Younger'? Oh, that's right, his father was also named Seneca. So that is how the future remembers him..."

"Yeah, we called his father Seneca the Elder, and him Seneca the Younger."

"Does the future recall Seneca's memory fondly?"

"Fondly? Oh, you mean, is he famous in the future?"

"Umu."

"Yeah, he's held in pretty high regard. We know him as a philosopher, a writer, a playwright, and a statesman, given the work he's left behind. I've studied quite a few of 'em when I was in school, and I happen to agree with a lot of his philosophies."

The more I talk about Seneca, which isn't a lot, mind you, the more Nero seems to beam and sparkle, clearly overjoyed that Seneca is quite famous in the modern era.

"You seem glad that we know a lot about him," I remark.

"He was my mentor while I was raised, before and even after I became emperor," Nero boasts, but as I watch, her expression softens and mellows significantly. "Truly, it gives me great pleasure to hear that the future has acknowledged him so."

"...I take it that he's already passed by now?" I ask her.

Nero hesitates, and her spirits visibly dampen.

"U...Umu... _ita_. He is but a memory now..."

I nod. "Sorry, I'll stop asking."

Nero remains silent for a moment, but perhaps as to be expected, her melancholy doesn't really last, as she suddenly rejuvenates her spirits on the spot and holds her head up high.

"Your apology is accepted, Praetor! Though, there may be consequences if you so happen to dampen my spirits again," Nero declares, brandishing her right hand at me.

"I see. What kind of consequences, may I ask?"

"The absence of a handsome reward that I planned to bestow upon you upon arrival at the capital city, for your timely assistance in today's battle! What else could it be?"

"...nah, I can make do without that reward."

"P-Preposterous! How could you deny a reward from the Emperor herself?!" Nero gasps, reeling in surprise.

"I'm just not very interested, that's all."

Nero is looking positively furious, puffing up her cheeks rather comically at me while clenching her fists, one of which holds the handle of her curved red sword. I put up my guard discretely, just in case she tries anything funny.

 _"N...not...NOT INTERESTEEEEEEEDDD!?"_ Nero cries out, unable to contain her fury any longer. "You - Praetor, you _dare_ reject my generosity?! And with such swiftness, too! Praetor, I demand that you name your price! Whatever it is, I shall grant it! Make no mistake!"

I put a finger on the tip of my own chin, pretending to think.

"Well, I'm a bit thirsty and hungry since I didn't have lunch today, so...water, and maybe, uh, what's it called, a _frumentatio?"_ I'm hoping my knowledge of ancient Roman cuisine is holding strong after all these years.

Nero just gapes at me like I'm talking absolute nonsense.

"W- _Water?!_ You ask for _water,_ and not even _wine?!"_ she cries, delirious with disbelief. "And you ask for something so simple like a frumentatio? Why not ask for a fruit tart, or at least a sweet wine cake with honey, red wine and cinnamon? Do you take Rome to be a city of mere _peasants_ , Praetor?!"

"No, not at all; I'm sure that Rome is a great city, and I'm sure that you're a truly generous emperor. But the thing is, I'm a simple guy, is what I'm trying to say," I shrug simply. "I don't need much, and I won't ask for much. And unless I'm feeling otherwise, I won't take more than what I need. I'm sorry if that's incompatible with your idea of generosity, but I'll have to insist on that."

"Kyaaa ~ my husband is acting all cool, being so humble like that ~ " Tamamo squeals, immediately using this as an excuse to jump on me and seize hold of my right arm.

"How was that being humble, exactly?"

"Then so be it!"

Nero bolts forward a few paces before us and plants herself down in front of me, causing me to halt, and subsequently the entire company too, once the front ranks see their emperor stop, so they stop with her.

"Let it be known, O Praetor!" Nero announces grandly. "You have incited a new flame within me, a new resonance of will! You claim to have little desire, but _non_ , I shall make you realize that there is more to life than simply living a simple life and having simple desires! I refuse to have such a simple Praetor, and I refuse to allow you to keep the title which I have bestowed upon you, should you insist on this! The next time we battle, the next time we feast, I shall permit you to witness the glory that is me, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and the glory that is Rome and the Roman Empire!"

I start giving Nero another sarcastic golf clap.

"Your oratory skills are impressive, Emperor," I say as dryly as ever, still clapping politely.

"Umu! As they should be and forever will be!" the red Emperor again lets the sarcasm fly right over her head and takes it in stride.

"Do you practice speeches like that in your bedroom every night before you go to bed or something?"

"In my bedroom? _In my bedroom!?"_ Nero bellows back, again with utter surprise. "Praetor, you - you truly believe that an emperor such as myself would allow herself to be confined within the limits of a _bedroom_ to practice these speeches?"

"I dunno, that's what people do these days, I'd think."

"Then they are not emperors!"

"Well, that's...that's true."

Nero practically slaps her bosom with her right hand and presses it there.

" _Non_ , Praetor! This emperor, this Nero performs in the Golden Theatre - the Aestus Domus Aurea! No need for rehearsals, every performance I give is a grand one, one worthy of the gods themselves! Jupiter and his fellow divines sitting atop Mt. Olympus, have never seen such artistic talent as mine, and never will for millenia to come! Just for you, Praetor, umu, I shall allow this respite - a special performance, freshly reserved for this poor, unfortunate Praetor who has yet to have a taste of what it means to have the greatest artistic talent this world has ever seen!"

"No, no, I'm gonna have to stop you right there, Miss Saber!" Tamamo cries out, yelling over Nero while she's still talking. "Now's _not_ the time to be subjecting Master to that! We still have a job to do here, lest you forget!"

Nero pouts even harder than before, even having pulled out her sword just for this spontaneous occasion.

"Th-That is also true. Mumumu...I shall postpone this special performance for another time. Though, should the gods will it, I may have an opportunity to perform it in battle," Nero grumbles, turning and continuing on her way back to Rome and thus prompting the rest of her army to do the same.

Having quietly cast another Comsat Scan spell back when we first started marching and having kept it active to help protect the army, I pick up signs of another unknown group of human signatures moving in to intercept us; we can't see them yet from our position because of another hill that stands in our way, but we will very soon, within a matter of seconds, in fact.

"Then you just might have that opportunity comin' up right about now," I call out to Nero, who turns around to face me again, and when she does, I point in the direction of the unknown force. Sure enough, we soon start seeing the front ranks of another large battalion of soldiers clad in the same colors as the enemy soldiers we fought some time ago to rendezvous with Nero.

"Ugh, by Jupiter's beard, we certainly have not had enough of these rascals, huh?" Nero scowls, clasping her sword tightly again. "But very well, it is as you say, Praetor. I shall capitalize on th - "

But strangely, Nero silences herself uncharacteristically.

"Somethin' wrong?" I ask her, noticing this first.

Having ground to a halt, Nero gazes off into the distance at the rapidly approaching enemy force that's moving in to intercept our path.

"...Uncle..." is all that Nero whispers for now.


	65. Family Feud

Uncle?

I quickly rattle my rusty knowledge knobs regarding First Century Roman history, specifically Nero's family tree, which I vaguely remember looking up on several occasions. I know that Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, is among her ancestors...but who's the Uncle she's referring to here?

"What's his name?" I immediately ask, stepping forward in front of Nero. The Roman soldiers marching close behind us, seeing the enemy force approach, also ready their weapons, their spears and shields rustling and clanking tensely for yet another battle.

But Nero doesn't seem to hear me, and when I glance over my shoulder to see what she's doing, she's got her eyes fixated on the front of the enemy force approaching us around the hill up ahead. A man in centurion-like armor, gold and black-plated to differentiate him from the other similarly-armored soldiers behind him, and donning a crimson red cape that looks torn and mangled along the bottom clunks menacingly towards us. Other than his unique armor, what catches my eye first are his eyes - those scleras of his are black. If his overbearing and maddening presence wasn't already a tell of his power, then the sight of those eyes would be the first sign of a dangerous opponent.

Holding up her right hand to stop her men where they stand, Nero assertively surges forward, past me and Tamamo, to confront the leader of the enemy force at a distance, the man who's supposedly her uncle. As she steps by, I notice that the uncertainty on her face is mysteriously missing.

"Caligula!" she calls out with a booming voice that echoes off the hill from which the enemy has come.

Nero's voice freezes the leader of the enemy battalion in his tracks, and with him, the enemy soldiers as well. Caligula narrows his eyes back at Nero, as if he's having trouble seeing, which wouldn't be a surprise if that's truly the case.

"...my beloved younger sister's child..." he croaks slowly, like he's having trouble enunciating the words. My Latin is, as previously mentioned, very rusty, so everything I'm hearing here is nothing but a rough translation and some paraphrasing. "...my...my niece..."

"Hold your tongue where it sits!" Nero thunders, and to put strength behind her verbal demand, she flashes into her right hand Aestus Estus and snaps it out to her side, with the point facing the ground. "Many a time have we met throughout this war, just like this, and many a time we have exchanged blows to no meaningful end other than that of our lives, and you dare continue your mockery that is to address me as your niece? You fool who has inexplicably lost his way, aligning with the ill-begotten United Empire that seeks to bring about the downfall of _my_ nation, of _my people!"_

Nero's red and black sword erupts aflame at the emphasis of her last few words, and it does so with such volatility that Nero's blonde bangs are swept the other way.

But Caligula seems not to heed her words. All he does is ogle back at her and raise an unsteady finger at her to stutter,

"M...My actions...are destiny. Give up your...life. Give up...that body..."

And for his part, Nero's uncle arches his back, clenches both of his fists, and bellows upwards into the sky,

 **"ALL OF IT - GIVE - IT - _UUUUUUPPP! ! ! !"_**

And without further introduction, Caligula pounds off the ground with his sandaled feet to charge straight at his own niece.

"Praetor, call your Servants off! I must do battle with him alone!" Nero demands without looking back at me, instead preparing to clash against the incoming enemy Servant. "Subdue the enemy troops behind him instead!"

"If you insist!" I reply in kind, opening my comms rune to talk to all my Servants at once to relay Nero's intentions. "Everyone, concentrate on the troops, leave Caligula to Nero!"

"Geez, that's _so_ like her - !" Tamamo pouts, watching as Nero also speeds towards Caligula in kind. "Don't go crying if you lose, Saber-san!"

"Let her do what she wants, we got somethin' else to worry about," I bark over before running around the middle of the field where Nero and Caligula are about to throw down to reach the United Empire troops who've come with Caligula.

"Oi, piggy! Surely you're not thinking of leaving _me_ out of any fun, now, are you?" Elizabeth borks down at me, and I look up as I'm running to find Liz somehow flying overhead, twirling her sadistic lance with one hand, her adorably tiny bat-like wings flapping behind her.

"Since when did you have _wings?"_ I call up at her.

 _"Since forever!_ My God, I _hate_ piggies who don't even see the obvious!" Liz shrieks back, and she swoops down to take out her newfound anger on the poor United Empire soldiers whose blood soon fills the air, courtesy of Liz's halberd.

"Master, we've got your back!" Matthew shouts from behind me, her comms rune active to channel her voice straight into my ears, so I dive straight at the enemy force, snapping my fingers in their direction to open with a spontaneous explosion that tosses the soldiers in and around the explosive radius away like ragdolls. I then flash-step straight into the middle of my own explosion crater while the smoke from it still lingers to give me cover before bursting through it to detonate a primed Piledriver punch onto the stomach of the first United Empire soldier I see. I end up oversampling the mana I infuse my fist with, so when I punch the soldier through his armor on his gut, I accidentally tear his body cleanly in half and blow out his torso, causing his guts and organs - what's left of them - to splatter all over the soldiers standing behind him. Having prepared myself mentally to face off against a Servant in Caligula, I apparently didn't notice to treat these enemies differently.

The enemy soldiers, seeing what I've done to this chap whose torso I've just eviscerated, roar and charge at me, perhaps out of fear that I'll likely do the same to them if they don't man up and do something to defend themselves. I pull my pistols out of their storage runes and quickly empty the mags into the soldiers closest to us, and the mana bullets collide with various places on their faces and knock them backwards at all sorts of angles; the bullets aren't lethal, but it's probably like getting hit in the face with golf balls if you get hit with them.

Once I spam all my shots away and the slides of my Desert Eagles clank open and remain that way, I twirl them around in my fingers briefly to hold them by the open slides and use them as improper nunchucks to beat the other soldiers behind the ones I shot down. One soldier swings his gladius at me, but I block it with the back of Sally's pistol grip, which is possible since both of my handguns are magically reinforced to make them much more durable than they otherwise would be. I whack another soldier in the side of his jaw with the butt of Mustang before ducking to avoid the other soldier's second sword swing, and as I spring back up, I smash the bottom of the first soldier's chin with such force that the soldier catches some hang time before plopping flat on his back onto the grass, stunned.

But there are more soldiers than I can handle just with two empty pistols, and if I don't do some kind of crowd control, they'll start swinging a number of swords at me that I won't be able to keep up with, and I'd much rather be the bouncer than the poledancer. So I back up to put some distance between me and the rest of the soldiers trying to attack me to toss my empty pistols up into the air. The enemy legionnaires facing me now hesitate, unsure of what I'm about to do next, but when they see me point a finger at them, a finger that happens to begin glowing with red mana that swirls clockwise to gather at my fingertip, they immediately see the imminent danger and charge to cut me down before I can do whatever it is that I'm trying to do, but unfortunately by that point it's already too late - I let loose a flaming mana shot with a sharp _whoosh_ , very similar to the sound that a stove makes when you turn the gas on high.

The shot splashes all over the soldiers trying to reach me before I can fire, sweeping them off their feet and setting them on fire with impunity. With residual fire mana still left over in my arm, I snap my right arm out again to remotely set off another fiery explosion underneath the feet of several more soldiers, causing them to burst into flames as well to cause a healthy distraction to those around them, and still with my pistols in mind, I reach up to catch Mustang & Sally just as they sink back down from the air. With all the flames I've generated, the rest of the soldiers who've been keen to attack me suddenly don't want to face me any more, giving me time to reload my handguns with more mana bullets - this time with incendiary mana bullets.

Matthew, Siegfried, and Gilles are cutting down enemies on the far right flank to prevent them from circling around and surrounding me, and Jalter has since joined Elizabeth in her aerial escapades on her own dragon mount, burning and slicing soldiers left and right as they strafe in and out through the air. The Artoria's are covering the left flank, with Martha and d'Eon charging forward right down the middle to push back the enemy force and deny them the option of advancing themselves. As I'm about to open fire with my pistols again, giant icicles rain in at an angle from up and behind me, impaling many of the soldiers and skewering them straight into the ground at grotesque angles, and Tamamo, swooping in on one of her flying mirrors, leaps off of it and brandishes a handful of talismans down at the ground, inundating the immediate area before us with bright red purification flames as if she's using a flamethrower.

As if it weren't clear even before the fight happened, there was little chance at an army of ordinary human legionnaires could stand up to squad of Servants, all of whom could very easily destroy them by themselves if they had to. If the difference in strength between Servants and humans wasn't already clearly demonstrated before, it is now. The smart ones escape as soon as they realize that they're up against people who can fly, throw ice and fire, possess unrivaled swordsmanship, and beat people down with nothing but a giant shield twice their size - but even the smart ones aren't spared, as Elizabeth pursues some of them, laughing madly as she spears them like a fisher spears fish at a riverbank, and the others are burnt to crisps by Kiyohime, who calmly waves herself with her spiked fan as blue-flame serpent-like dragons snake along the ground and tear through the ankles and legs of the fleeing enemy soldiers before eating them alive with their flaming teeth as they grovel in pain and scream on the ground.

With the enemy force quickly taken care of, I turn around to see how Nero is doing; several of the Servants have remained behind, presumably to guard Nero's soldiers, but since they're in sight of Nero and Caligula dueling it out, I suspect that they're keeping watch over Nero, too. Now that Caligula's soldiers are eliminated, I can turn back and see how Nero is doing.

And I turn around just in time to see Caligula planting his knuckles against Nero's face. Perfect timing, unfortunately.

"Saber-san!" Tamamo shouts out, unable to help herself, but as soon as she surges forward to come to Nero's assistance, I snatch her by the back of her black-rimmed detached white collar, which I'm surprised doesn't rip with both how quickly I grab hold of it and how abruptly Tamamo stops in response.

"She said to leave her alone," I remind Caster.

"But she's the type who won't admit when she needs help or is outmatched!" Tamamo argues. "You've seen how huge her ego is just by talking with her, right?"

"Even still, it's obvious that this fight should be between her and her uncle only," I respond. "We'll move in to assist if it's clear she can't hold her own."

Nero, scraping along the grass, rolls back up to her feet swiftly, wiping the blood that's slightly leaked from her left nostril where Caligula has punched her, and she leaps high up into the air.

"You - are - _PERSISTENT!"_

An explosion of flame spirals into the air as a result of Nero slamming her sword into the ground in an attempt to cleave her uncle in half, but watching the fight, I observe Caligula kick off sideways to avoid the flames and the sword, and while Nero is vulnerable in the immediate aftermath of her guillotine swing, Caligula lunges in to catch her with right hook aimed at the back of her head. It looks as if Nero can't dodge it, but she barely recognizes the attack in time to duck her head, and Caligula's knuckles catch only her hair bun, which isn't as painful as actually catching the hand but still awkwardly forces Nero to stumble forward while also undoing her hair at the same time.

Heaving, Nero pivots on her left foot, drags her sword out of the burning grass, and swings horizontally at her uncle's abdomen, and instead of moving to dodge it, Caligula instead stops the blade manually with his right hand. The sheer sharpness of Aestus Estus means that Caligula's hand starts bleeding due to the force with which Nero has swung, but better his hand than his side. Caligula then yanks the sword towards him past his side, and Nero, unwilling to let go of her precious sword, lurches towards her uncle with it and eats a clean gut punch for her trouble, a punch so strong I can hear Nero's guts churn with the impact from about sixty meters away.

But Nero isn't fazed, amazingly - after a single violent cough, Caligula seizes her by her undone blonde hair, but Nero still has the strength remaining to reach up, grab her uncle's arm firmly, and cause thorny vines to spontaneously grow around it. Caligula yells in pain and alarm as the thorns dig into his skin, not quite breaking it but still being uncomfortable enough to force him to let go, but he doesn't relent and steps forward again with both hands clenched over his head to bash Nero's head in from above. In response, Nero swiftly raises her blade and angles it precisely so that Caligula ends up bashing the sharp edge of Aestus Estus with the bottoms of his fists, and against Nero's resteadied grip, his attack backfires so badly that he ends up lodging his fists _into_ Nero's sword briefly before wrenching them out.

But as he stumbles backwards in his effort to dislodge his hands, Nero poises her sword sideways across her chest, and clenching her teeth, she bursts off the ground with such speed that for all intents and purposes, she's performed a flash step, even though it's technically not one. She moves far faster than her uncle can react to, so even as Caligula sidesteps again to avoid the charge, blood spurts out from his side as a deep gash wound hacks itself in, and Nero reappears behind him, her red blade held forward in her thrust. Judging by the size of the wound and how she was aiming from what I could see, I think she was looking to stab Caligula straight through the stomach.

Clutching his serious wound, Caligula stumbles a bit, turning awkwardly towards Nero, who slowly stands up straight and turns to him in kind, knowing that this duel is now concluded.

"...oh...ooh..." Caligula is grunting with a mixture of pain and saddened confusion. "...my...beloved niece..."

I spy Nero's left eye twitch when she is called "niece".

"...why? Why won't you...give it to me...?" Caligula coughs a little, staring down at his right hand that's now smeared with his own blood that's been drawn by his supposed beloved niece. "Why can't...you give it to me...? My...my beautiful...my...my...mine...my..."

As he rambles, his voice grows more and more hollow, and his body correspondingly fades out and eventually removes him from sight.

 _"Looks like Caligula's turned into his Spiritual Body form and retreated for now,"_ Roman's voice buzzes out from Matthew, who's joined me and Tamamo in spectating Nero's duel against her uncle. _"I don't see anything else in your area, you're clear for now."_

"Geez, I swear..." Tamamo, fretting as usual, hurries over to Nero as the other Servants who've participated in the attack regroup on me.

"Are you alright, Master?" Matthew checks with me to make sure I'm not injured.

"Nah, I'm good. Everyone else is fine, I assume?" I look around to check on everyone else, too.

"Yes, no injuries on our part."

"Then let's check in with Nero."

Tamamo is still fussing over Nero as we regroup with the rest of Nero's army and the Servants.

" _Honestly_ , why do you have to be like this all the time...such a handful..." she complains, slapping another healing talisman over Nero's gut.

"No need to worry! Clearly I was triumphant, so no need to doubt my capabilities, no?" Nero's returned to her amicably egotistical self again, bubbling with smiles and radiance as she lets Caster treat her wounds, and she greets me as well when we draw near. "Ah, Praetor! Excellent work in dispatching of the enemies while I dueled the enemy general - not only was the enemy force larger than mine, but my men are also starting to tire from all these battles that we have fought today. I don't mind fighting outnumbered every once in a while, but this is too much!"

Nero pouts rather cutely as Tamamo attempts to apply one last healing talisman over her nose where Caligula socked her, but the Roman emperor stops her before the talisman can touch her face. "Not the face, this will hide my beauty and I cannot allow that, Caster. In any case, another favor you have earned from me, Praetor! Umu!"

She puffs out her chest, and her breasts seem to swell with her pride.

"I'd suggest we get back to Rome as fast as possible before we run into any more of them," I tell Nero bluntly. "The problem isn't necessarily that we can't fend off any more their attacks, but more that if you insist on dueling their generals in a similar fashion like this, as someone who wants to respect your decisions as Emperor, I'm not sure how many more of those duels you can take."

Nero's cheeriness deflates considerably as she digests my advice, knowing full well herself that it's best if she doesn't take another fight like that.

"U-Umu...y-you're not wrong," Nero relunctantly concedes. "There is much to discuss, anyhow, both on your part and mine. Let us proceed directly to Rome - we shall impart our knowledges to one another in the safety of my palace."

And so we get going again, with the same formation as before, though this time it appears that Elizabeth is casually flapping over us, perhaps because flying at the very least gives her some form of entertainment while we do nothing but march our way back to Rome.

"May I ask if it's alright to talk about your uncle?" I ask Nero.

"Umu..." she murmurs. She's clearly not comfortable with talking about it, but it's clear that she doesn't want to refuse me, perhaps because she feels like she owes us a few favors for covering for her and her troops today. "Very well, I shall allow it. Lay your questions before me, and you will have my answers."

"I won't ask anything too personal; I just want to know how many times you've fought him so far, because when I was watching you fight him, I got the impression that this isn't your first time dueling him."

"Umu. This is about the fourth or fifth time now," Nero replies, gripping her red blade a bit more tightly, which she's forgotten to magically despawn now that she's out of combat. "The United Empire rascals appear to take great pleasure in sending a copy of my uncle to do battle with me, which angers me to no end, yet I cannot express that anger in a way that is satisfactory to me. Battling my uncle is painful in both senses of the word, and even if I defeat him eventually, with how many attacks the United Empire has launched so far over the course of this war, I get the feeling that such a victory would be petty at best and self-defeating at worst."

"But it seems like he's searching you out on his own volition, not necessarily because he's being ordered to attack you."

"Th-That is also...not false. You have listened to him when he places me in his sights, yes?"

"Rambling about how you're his beautiful niece, yes."

"Indeed. My uncle Caligula was a previous emperor before me. He was initially a good emperor, by the accounts that I have, but something happened to him that caused him to develop dementia or some form of insanity, and eventually he was assassinated a few years after he fell into madness. While I myself only possess fleeting memories of my interactions with him as a child, I know that Caligula was infatuated with me, specifically about how I resembled his sister so much - my mother."

Nero twists her lips a little.

"It appears that in that form as a Berserker, he still clutches dearly onto his memories of me, but something has caused him to turn those memories that he holds of me as the driving force behind his desire to put an end to me and my empire. I would like to discover the the reasons, and perhaps with your assistance, I may finally be able to do so..."

"I see. One more question, but this isn't related to Caligula."

"Oh?" Nero turns to me with intrigue. "What might that be, Praetor?"

"As we're from the future, we know what was supposed to happen during this era - roughly speaking. This era is what we call First Century Rome, and you were supposed to be alive during this time period."

I turn to face the Roman emperor, whose face is slowly being drained of blood.

"You know what I'm referring to, judging by your reaction," I note quietly. "We knew as soon as we met you. And maybe you weren't trying to keep it a secret from us, but you're most certainly keeping it a secret from your troops and your people. My question is, once we're done resolving this Singularity, what do you plan to do?"

Nero is completely silent.


	66. Viceroy

The Servants and I successfully escort Nero and her expeditionary force back to the Roman capital, and after wading through a city's worth of hysterically cheering crowds and after Nero dismisses her troops for the time being so that she can take us into her palace, which, while it's definitely exquisite and what you'd expect of a royal Roman palace, isn't as...gaudy and ostentatious as I perhaps imagined in my head. Maybe I had inflated expectations due to Nero's flamboyant persona, but I'm not about to bring this up to her at this moment.

"You'll pardon me for...having such a plain and uninteresting palace at the moment," Nero quickly apologizes with a wave of her hand as she leads me and the rest of the Servants into her chambers, which evidently are so large that it can easily house all twenty-one of us as the pair of Praetorian guards give me and my Servants some brief but suspicious looks as we walk past. "The circumstances of this war have been very peculiar, and I have hardly had the chance to restore the palace to how I once had it..."

"Once had it"? I gaze at Nero strangely. Talk about peculiar things, that's a weird choice of words to use there...

The doors shut behind us courtesy of the Praetorian Guardsmen, and Nero swiftly pivots to me with a grimaced face and her fists on her hips.

"Allow me to answer your question from before, when we were still marching to the city, that I have not yet answered," the Roman emperor insists. "Your suspicions are correct, Praetor. I am...not the Emperor Nero Claudius who should be ruling Rome at this very moment. I am, instead, the Servant named Nero Claudius."

By this point, everyone pretty much knows that Nero is a Servant, so it's not like anyone has any dramatic reaction to this reveal. Servants can sense other Servants, after all, and it's not as if Nero is trying to conceal her identity or her presence as a Servant either. And not that she would at all.

"Hey, Doc, double-check that Nero Claudius was still supposed to be in power at this point in time?" I ask Roman via Matthew's communicator on her chest armor.

 _"Already did, Nero is definitely still supposed to be in power at this time,"_ Roman ascertains with a shaky voice. _"That's...that's not good..."_

"That's not just 'not good', this is...this is a downright _strange_ situation," Da Vinci sternly announces, having joined me, Matthew, Tamamo, and Nero up in the center of the emperor's chambers.

"Spare me this elusive talk, you must tell me why this is strange, for I seek the same answers myself!" Nero insists again, stronger this time.

"Answer us this first, Nero, when did you die as a human? How long ago was it?" I face Nero, asking her directly. I know that asking someone when they died when surely they must've died recently is a bad thing to do, but unfortunately, mean questions need to be asked since Nero herself said she wants answers, too.

Nero takes a step back, the hard look on her face almost immediately slapped off.

"M-Master?! That's a really sensitive question, you know!" Tamamo exclaims, tugging on my right arm with emphasis.

"I know, but it needs to be asked since if Nero's a Servant when she's supposed to still be alive, someone or something killed her before we got here," I glance at Tamamo quickly to reason with her. "Which then means that if Nero was killed _before_ this Singularity turned active, our definition of what a Singularity really is needs to be revised."

 _"Eccelente,_ Agosto," Da Vinci nods approvingly. "That is correct - if Nero was assassinated before the Holy Grail appeared in this region to activate the Singularity, that means that the course of history was altered _outside_ of the Grail's magical hegemony."

 _"In other words, this isn't a Singularity anymore,"_ Roman pipes in. _"This is an alternate timeline altogether."_

"But it's still clear that there's a Holy Grail in play. We've got Nero here who's a Servant, and we've already fought her uncle Caligula, who's also clearly a Servant. And she's even alluded to the other enemy generals, and they might be Servants too," I point out. "Even if this is an alternate timeline, I think it's still branching into ours, as long as there _is_ in fact a Grail here and the Singularity disappears when we recover it and get out with it."

 _"But that's only_ if _all that happens, isn't it?"_

"Well shit, Watson, isn't that what we're here to do?" I turn to Nero. "You'll need to tell us still, so that we can tell you what exactly's going on and maybe give you some answers you're lookin' for."

Which is half a lie, because even if she _does_ tell us for us to know if this is really a Singularity or not, it's not like it's gonna matter since either way, we're going to have to recover the Grail. It's more to spur Nero on so that we don't have to wait for her any longer. Thankfully, she recovers herself, probably because she needs to continue her emperor image.

"U-Umu! I - I was attacked in the middle of one of my grand performances in the theatre!" Nero stumbles on her words a bit, as the memory clearly remains fresh on her mind. "One of the United Empire generals, a fat man wearing a red coat and a laurel wreath on his head, slew me by passing through me with his sword through the back of my heart, and in my dying moments, I saw troops with the United Empire colors storming my precious theatre. "I had no recognition of the matter until it was far too late. Such - such cowardice!"

Nero pouts, but it's a genuinely angry pout, not one that is made because of pettiness.

"Hm, so assuming that these United Empire generals are actually Servants, then maybe this _is_ just a normal Singularity..." Matthew thinks aloud.

"And how'd you get back into power?" I ask.

"I found myself standing on top of Collis Aventinus almost as soon as I remember losing consciousness," Nero recounts, speaking with pursed lips still. She's referring to the southern hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, Aventine Hill. "I knew at that moment that I was a Servant and that the United Empire had probably seized control of Rome, so I rushed in to reclaim my rightful throne. With the help of my troops who recognized me and were still loyal to me, I was able to oust the United Empire fools and reestablish control over the city, and from there, we steadily pushed the United Empire out of the immediate region and well beyond north of the Tiber."

"This sounds quite familiar..." Jeanne awkwardly mutters under her breath behind me, which I just barely hear.

"But the Romans - your people knew that you were dead, right?" I ask. "Didn't anyone question how you were alive again?"

"They did, but apparently there were quite a few rumors circulating about me after the day of my death that I would resurrect and return to claim my throne, which, I suppose in a way, is exactly what happened. Perhaps in thanks to those rumors, my troops and my Praetorian Guards immediately came to my aid when I attacked my own palace that day."

"Then I assume no one knows that you're a Servant? Is there anyone else in the city besides us who might know that you're not exactly a human?"

Nero shakes her head. "My court mage would have, but alas, he too was killed the day I was killed, by the hand of Caligula, my Uncle - or the Servant who calls himself my Uncle," she grimaces. "In fact, much of my administrative staff and the Senate is unavailable to me, for they have either been killed as well or have fled for their lives and have yet to return, perhaps because they do not believe the reports that I have returned and reclaimed my throne and think them false reports instead."

"Which means you have been handling all state affairs on your own, for the most part," Da Vinci finishes for her. "And all this work and the campaigning you've had to do to reclaim your empire's lands from the enemy...Emperor Nero, I can already tell that your mana consumption has and will continue to exceed your mana reception rate from this Singularity's Holy Grail if you keep this up."

Nero already has her eyes lowered, but even before Da Vinci can finish her three-minute diagnostic, the Roman Emperor sharply raises her eyes straight up at me.

"Say no more, for I have found the solution."

Walking up to me confidently, as how a Roman emperor should, perhaps, Nero plants both her feet before me, which is a bit comical because she is a full foot shorter than me and then some.

"Praetor, you have demonstrated outstanding leadership and valiant effort in assisting my empire. For this, you must be rewarded. As this is an emergency, my gift to you is a pledge of Servantship; become my Master, and together, we shall crush the United Empire and deny them of this empire, _my_ empire!"

With pompous and theatrical flair, Nero ends her brief but rousing speech by keeping her right arm raised high up into the air over her head and the other hand on her open bosom; she's even tossed a rose into the air with her raised arm that she got from God knows where, and the rose bursts into a small shower of rose petals that graciously flutter down all around us.

Meanwhile, I simply stare at Nero with no conspicuous reaction to her showmanship. No one else moves a muscle, either, except for Tamamo, who is shaking her head behind my back as if she just _knew_ this was coming.

Eventually, Nero notices that I haven't given her a response yet, so she breaks her pose, tilting her head slightly at why I'm remaining silent. It's because I was trying to get her to become all embarrassed because I wasn't reacting to her flair as I should, but it seems like Nero doesn't know the meaning of shame. Should have seen that one coming, probably.

"...what is the matter, Praetor? Are you somehow not satisfied with my offer?" she asks, growing a bit displeased.

"No, sorry, it's nothing," I shake my head quickly, extending my hand towards her. "I was going to ask you to join us anyway at the end of it all, so I guess this takes care of that now rather than later..."

"To sweeten the deal, I shall grant you the title of Viceroy!...though that means little at the moment," Nero awkwardly finishes.

"I'll take that as a promotional bonus, thanks."

We shake hands, but I notice that Nero's face contorts slightly as soon as our hands make contact.

"Sorry, is something wrong?" I ask quickly, but Nero shakes her head just as quickly.

"No, it is nothing. Must have been another one of my migraines..." Nero waves off. "Now then, I must explain to you the situation with my empire and the fake empire known as the United Empire: they are under the command of a group of generals who are all posing as emperors of Rome when in reality they are nothing more than impostors or bandits, one of the two."

"But one of them was your uncle, who really was a Roman emperor before you," Matthew points out. "Are the other generals also former Roman emperors?"

"Not all of them, but I am aware that my own uncle who is now a Servant like myself is among their ranks, but not even blood relation will stop me from defending my empire from those who seek to rip it away from me."

"Do you know why they're trying to take over your empire? Is it because you have possession of the Grail?" I ask.

"No to both, Praetor; I know not of the Grail's location, and I do not know what they want other than to have my empire, which they shall not whilst my flesh and blood continue to grace this capital. Rome controls everything beneath the Tiber, which extends to about another thirty or so kilometers above Collis Quirinalis, the northernmost hill. Everything beyond the Tiber is United Empire territory, with the rest of the peninsula southbound still firmly ours. I have repeatedly been sending scout parties to infiltrate United Empire territory so that we maybe gather more information about them, but none of them have ever returned, vexingly enough. The fact that the United Empire has also stolen a great portion of Rome's military forces by swaying them under their command with their false authorities has robbed us of the ability to campaign confidently into enemy territory, and my previous attempts to do so before your arrival have all been shut down, as it pains me to admit."

 _"So if Nero doesn't have control of the Grail, then it's safe to assume that this United Empire people do,"_ Roman comments.

"But then why aren't they doing anything with it?" I note, looking around at Nero, Da Vinci, Matthew, Tamamo, and Saber, who's joined us up in the middle of Nero's chambers now that we're talking to talk military tactics. "Last time in France, Jalter had possession of the Grail, along with Gilles, the Caster version of him, and she was using it initially to summon dragons all over France, and even before that, Caster Gilles used the power of the Grail to create Jalter as a Servant. So if Servants can use the Grail as well, why aren't the generals of the United Empire using it to their advantage? They could've easily overrun Rome with the Grail backing them up, even with Nero returning as a Servant to reclaim the capital."

No one gives me an answer, unless correct answers can include silence. Da Vinci, however, finally does.

"You're saying that perhaps, there is someone in control of the United Empire, then? Controlling the rest of them?" she suggests slowly.

"This is a Holy Grail War, after all, even if it's far from the norm," I shrug. "What's to say that there can't be another Master who's used the Grail to summon Servants of his or her own to attack Rome?"

"And that Master...no, that person, could it possibly be..." Matthew wonders aloud for a moment, but she quickly shakes her head and continues on. "More rather, why haven't they just attacked Rome and conquered it by this point if they have the Grail?"

"Well, that's what I'm saying. There's gotta be a reason why Rome's still standing."

 _"Maybe...they're just going easy on Nero? I dunno, if the United Empire generals out there are in fact former Roman emperors like Caligula, maybe they could be like, well, they don't wanna go_ too _hard on Nero because she's the newest emperor and all that - "_

"Nnnggh! So those fools _are_ making a mockery out of me!" Nero fumes, stamping her foot against the ground a couple times. "I won't stand for this, even if they _are_ my predecessors...!"

"Now, now, calm down, Saber-san, there's no use getting angry here when they're not even here..." Tamamo calms her friend down, and Nero complies, albeit still visibly irritated. Thank God Tamamo knows her pretty well already.

"Enough theorycrafting and big-braining," Jalter drawls in a bored voice next to Jeanne. "Whatever their reason is for not burning this place to the ground yet, we just need to take the fight to them, right?"

"Right; it's clear that whatever answers we want for the questions we got right now can be obtained when we actually go fight the United Empire," I nod in agreement. "Nero, do you have maps of the United Empire's territory? I'd like a visual so that we can figure out how we're gonna go about dismantling them."

"Ooh, quite diligent you are! Rome will be privileged to have such a hard-working Viceroy," Nero beams, but that proud look doesn't last long. "Unfortunately, it pains me greatly to tell you that we have no such maps, as our scout teams that would have helped draft such maps have never come back from their expeditions."

That doesn't deter me. I turn to Matthew to ask,

"Roman, can you project a map of Italy onto your screen? I need to take a look at it."

 _"Yeah, gimme a sec, I should be able...to pull that off..."_

Roman fiddles with the console and successfully projects a hologram map of the Italian peninsula for me to consult. Nero herself looks on with amazement at this display of future technology.

"Oooooh! Umu, as expected of this distant mage who aids us even from a faraway land!"

 _"Aw, it's nothing, really ~ "_

Keenly studying the map, I realize that Rome does not control a whole lot of territory - if Nero's correct about what Rome actually controls, then Rome only has possession of roughly the southern half of Italy, with everything north of it enemy territory. And because Rome's territory should stretch all the way to the British islands during Nero's reign, the United Empire's basically stolen away a good 60% of the empire, give or take five to ten percent.

"You're sure that the only territory you control is the peninsula?" I double-check with Nero.

"Positive. I have sent out messages to the military bases we have in other lands beyond the peninsula, but none of them have been answered," Nero shakes her head. "I have assumed that I have lost them - "

"What about North Africa?"

"I was just about to mention it, and it still under my possession, surprisingly enough, but I cannot withdraw the troops I have stationed there, for the region provides Rome with much of its grain; I _cannot_ afford to lose it. I am shocked that they have not yet made an attempt to seize it for themselves..."

Makes sense that North Africa would be the lifeline of Rome; the Italian peninsula didn't produce grain and relied on grain imports, and North Africa was Rome's biggest grain exporter that supplied both Italy and Greece. We need to expect that North Africa will be attacked, because if former Roman Emperors are commanding the United Empire troops as Servants, then surely they know how economically critical North Africa is.

"Do you have any idea about the United Empire's naval power?" I ask Nero. "Have they ever deployed troops by sea, or have you ever fought them in naval battles?"

" _Minime,_ they have demonstrated no such tactic."

"Then that means that unless they're working on building their own navy somewhere, they'll likely attack down through the Iberian Peninsula," I conclude, pointing over to Spain and Portugal."

"But why is that?"

"North Africa is our lifeline; if we lose it, we'll need to recover it as soon as possible before they destroy the wheat fields there, otherwise the war'll be as good as done. Think about it, you're going up against enemies who were once Roman emperors themselves; whatever you know about your empire, they should also know. Surely they know how important North Africa is, right?"

"U-Umu..." Nero has a difficult look on her face while her lips tremble.

"An army marches on its stomach, and all that...a nation does too," I remark while patting Artoria on the left shoulder, who looks away without saying a word. "Since you said that the United Empire controls all the land north of the Tiber, I'll assume that Spain is under their control. That means that if they wanted to launch a campaign to attack and destroy North Africa to deny Rome of its food source, they've got a really convenient staging point to just flood troops down through Gibraltar and into North Africa. We can't let that happen."

"So...what do you suggest, Praetor?"

"Secure Iberia. For now, we'll work off the assumption that the United Empire has no naval capability, which means that the easiest point of access that they have to North Africa is through Gibraltar, which we'll also assume is currently under United Empire control. We push them back to the Spanish-French border - er, I guess in this case it would be the Iberian-Gaulish border - and secure it so that Iberia is a buffer region against future United Empire attacks so that way, if Iberia holds, then we don't have to worry about North Africa getting attacked, and if they break through, Iberia will buy us time to respond and stop the United Empire from reaching Gibraltar. In the meantime, I'll send out some Servants to scout the United Empire - borders, troop movements, garrisons, major cities. If we find the location of the Grail, we'll immediately converge there, eliminate the opposition, and secure the Grail, because the Grail is likely the reason why the United Empire even exists in the first place."

I turn to my Servants.

"I need anyone who can either fly or can summon mounts to scout right away. Jalter, Liz, Tamamo, Marie, Martha..."

"Now? Go _now?"_ Jalter balks back at me.

" _You_ were the one who wanted to get out there and do shit, right? You can summon fuckin' dragons, so yeah, I want you to get out there."

"Th-That's not what I meant! I wanna _fight_ , not _scout!_ What am I, a lowly soldier? _Dégage!"_

"Jalter, _please_ , now is _not_ the time for this...!" Jeanne springs into action at Jalter's discontent, pushing her slowly away from me while Jalter swears at me in French. I just ignore her for the time being to address everyone else.

"Mkay, for the rest of you who're actually _willing_ to cooperate," I remark sarcastically with a roll of my eyes, "for now, scout the Tiber and check for any enemy garrisons that look like they're big enough to attack. If you're able, you're cleared to engage them and drive them back so that we don't have to worry about having to deal with them later. If the garrisons are too big or if you detect other enemy Servants there, disengage immediately and report back so that we know that they're there and we can engage them together. Any questions?"

I look around for any, but none seems to come.

"Just to be safe, I want you guys to go in pairs," I add. "Pick a partner, pick an area to scout, get out there and report back. We'll decide on what to do next once we have our initial scouting information."

As the scouting Servants pair up - Marie with d'Eon, who insists on escorting her, Jalter with Jeanne, begrudgingly, and Martha with St. George, and Elizabeth with Kiyohime, weirdly enough - I turn to Matthew, well, specifically the hologram projection that's coming from Matthew's chest armor.

"Roman, can you check if the Mediterranean leyline is still active here?" I ask.

 _"Er, yeah, it is, I was just about to comment on that, too - it's at Mt. Etna, in Sicily, to the south. How'd you know it was here?"_

"Heard it from some people from the RGA who'd done magical research here with permission from the Clock Tower, of all people. I'll need to pay a visit to it."

 _"Wait, why?"_

"You'll know when I get there."


	67. Mt Etna

The familiar scent of deathly dry sand and dust fills my nose. They say that the human brain registers smell and sound and other senses faster than sight - they seem pretty correct about that as far as I'm concerned.

Rise and...shiiiiiine.

As I open my eyes, finding myself lying flat on my back on the top of a dusty plateau overlooking the large chasm, directly above me is a visible black outline. Under most circumstances, it would be invisible to the naked human eye, as the sky here is also completely pitch black.

...but the land is still perfectly visible, as if the sun was out. Not sure how that works.

I digress; normally, this black outline in the sky can't be seen because of the black sky backdrop. But sometimes, black and red flames wrap around the outline, giving it the impression that the outline is giving off flames, like a circle of rope that's been it on fire from one end and the fire has traveled the entirety of the circumference.

At least it's something interesting to look at, even if it does seem like an ominous sign of mass destruction. As the sky is nothing but pitch black, there are no stars to make stargazing possible, so other than the occasional burning ring, the sky offers nothing visually stimulating. The ground down here isn't much better, but at least the view is good up here.

Here I am talking about visual stimulation when just being here is the equivalent of incurring brain death. Kinda makes me wonder how I've even made it this far.

I decide to be lazy and keep my ass flat against the dusty ground, staring straight up at the astrological phenomenon. From the times that I've observed it, it seems to appear in random locations in the sky, but it's always about the same size, like a large hula hoop just hanging out in the sky, just because. At first, it used to look scary and frightening, but over time I've gotten used to it being there, and it's because of it that I now think that red and black color schemes look sick, which explains Mustang's paintjob.

Normally, I'd already be up and wandering about. But today'll be different. I'll just stay lying here, staring up at this ring in the sky. It'll be my day off.

* * *

Despite Nero's insistence that I get some rest first before heading out to Mt. Etna, I've departed the eternal capital city with Matthew, Tamamo, and the three Sabers. As the ones who've volunteered for scout duty (a bit different in Jalter's case, but we'll just ignore that) have already set out to perform their duties upon my command, everyone else who hasn't been relegated to a task yet has been defaulted to staying within the city, either patrolling the city walls to defend against potential night raids that have evidently occurred on a regular basis before we came here or resting in the palace itself, ready to be summoned for battle should there be another night raid.

I catch some sleep on our way to the mountain in Sicily. Tamamo initially threatened to refuse to take our party to Mt. Etna if I didn't agree to getting some sleep during our flight, but it was ultimately an empty threat, as all three Sabers and I can simply traverse over water with ease, and having seen the Sabers' combat prowesses firsthand, it's safe to say that they'd be more than enough bodyguard security that one could ask for. But when I pointed _that_ out, Tamamo started sulking and pouting, trying her best to guilt-trip the ever-living fuck out of me, so I relented, despite the fact that I find guilt-tripping to be extremely annoying most of the time. Oh well, at some point I'd have to sleep anyway, and sleeping while flying to Mt. Etna is the most efficient option.

In case you're wondering how I would manage sleeping on a flying magic mirror, the answer is simple: Tamamo glomped me the entire way over, making sure that I wouldn't fall off our flying mirror. Makes me wonder if she started singing the words _"I can show you the woooorrrllddd"_ to me at some point...what do you mean, that's a copyright strike?

We arrive at Mt. Etna very early in the morning; I would guess the local time to be about three or four o'clock.

"Doctor, come in, we've arrived at the leyline point," Matthew calls through her communicator, but just as she activates her communicator to speak to Roman, we can hear a high-pitched alarm ringing incessantly in the background, accompanied by the sound of sleepy, groggy groans, all topped off by the sound of a hand smacking against the top of an alarm clock. "...Doctor?"

"Rise and shiiiiine, Dr. Archaman..." I call over offhandedly. "Wake up, and smell the ashes..."

 _"Sorry, yeah, yeah, I'm here, I'm here, waddya need..."_ Roman calls in as he hastily throws himself into his chair, which we can all plainly hear.

"Doctor, you weren't _sleeping_ on the job just now, were you?"

 _"No, no, of course not, why would I ever do that, I'm the diligent doctor of Chaldea, ever since Magi Mari told me to stop sleeping in I haven't bee late to a day of work at all, aha, ahaha, ha ha ha..."_

"Doctor, if you can't cut that out, I'll have to speak with Lady Da Vinci in regards to your paycheck this month..."

 _"Please don't, Lady Matthew, I need my precious gacha money for the next Magi Mari banner..."_

"Then stop sleeping on the job!"

 _"Aw come on, it's three-thirty in the morning and I haven't slept in twenty hours! I'm a doctor, not a machine! We hire machines for a reason, you know!"_

"I'll take that as a complement, thanks," I remark dryly. "Doc, monitor the leyline's condition for me as I work, will ya."

 _"Uh, sure, but...you said that you'd explain to us what you're planning on doing here..."_ Roman grumbles while rubbing his eyes, by the sounds of his grunts. _"I mean, this was a good idea anyway, I can have Matthewset a terminal point so that I can better monitor the Singularity from here, since Da Vinci isn't here to help me in the station, but..."  
_

"I'm gonna construct a magical comms amplifier," I reply, locating the centerpoint of the leyline where its magical concentration is the densest and getting down on one knee to place my right hand on the ground. "I don't know how well versed you are in wireless networking, but there are devices called signal extenders that take a broadcast signal and amplify it so that it's receivable at a much greater range than it normally would be. The runes I'm gonna place here use the same concept; it'll use the ambient magical energy generated by this leyline to amplify the range of the communications runes I've given everyone so that we can keep communicating even if we're spread out all over the Mediterranean."

 _"...you sound like you've done this before, August."_

"That's because I have."

From my fingertips, a pair of light blue runes etch themselves into the ground and snake in a perfect circle outwards away from me, meeting at the other end of the circle, and the interior of these rune strips quickly fill up with magical etchings that make the runes look like they're made up of computer hardware. Once the first circle is complete and the rune interiors have been filled in, without warning, a much larger rune, large enough to take up an entire circular ballroom, flashes into view on the ground, and while only sparsely filled with computer-like etchings and lines, the magical lights within them move about swiftly, as if the rune itself is an actual working piece of hardware. For about half a minute, the soft blue light that the greater rune shines remains very bright, but past those initial thirty seconds, the light slowly fades away until it's only about as bright as a child's nightlight.

Clearing my throat as I get back up to my feet, I open a comms rune to Kiyohime, who'd asked me to contact her first once I completed this amplifier rune.

"Kiyo, come in, can you hear me?" I ask, testing the amplifier.

 _"Yes Master, very well. Ahh, it's so nice to be able to hear you even from so far away..."_ Kiyohime coos with relief. _"Thank you for keeping your promise, Master. I have known others who have been somewhat..._ less _faithful to their own promises..."_

"Yeah, I can imagine. How's your scouting, find anything?"

 _"Not yet...the Komodo dragon and I are currently perched above the treeline here next to the big river, but I unfortunately have nothing to report..."_

Because my comms rune tracks everyone's positions when I apply it to them, I can pinpoint Kiyohime's location on the map of Europe that Roman has showed us from our meeting earlier with Nero. It seems like Liz and Kiyo are now in the small isle directly northwest of what would be the modern-day Italian village of Tenuta Santa Colomba, and that's, what, about fifteen kilos north of Rome or so.

 _"Hey, does this thing work now, piggy?"_ Elizabeth calls curiously, trying out her own comms rune. _"Oh, goodie, it does. So far we've found three minor enemy encampments along this river; the others're looking for more further north. By chance you wouldn't let us attack one of them right now?"_

"No, don't, I already said that I'd rather have everyone attack together and hit multiple enemy garrisons at once so that they won't have time to launch a concentrated counterattack."

 _"Awwww, but ONE enemy camp shouldn't be a big deaaaaal..."_

"It is. As your manager, I'm telling you that that's not a good idea."

Elizabeth tries to protest, but it ends up rolling over into a disgruntled pout instead, even if I can't actually see her pouting.

"Elizabeth, please, behave yourself ~ " Tamamo calls over through my comms rune, hugging my shoulder and leaning her head down to do so, even though there's nothing stopping my Servants from communicating with each other privately using my comms runes on their own.

 _"Don't tell me to behave myself when_ you're _the one slipping into Master's bed every night like a slippery snake!"_ Liz yowls.

 _"What's this about a slippery snake, Komodo Dragon-san...?"_ Kiyohime hisses quietly.

 _"Oh my God, I wasn't talking to YOU, you Mexican bearded lizard!"_

 _"But I am not Mexican..."_

 _"IT'S A TYPE OF LIZARD, OKAY!? GOD!"_

I close my comms rune as the two of them devolve into an argument about what kind of lizards they truly are.

"I can tell that they're good friends," I remark dryly again.

"Y-You think so...?" Tamamo laughs awkwardly.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm about sixty-nine percent sure."

"That's...not exactly the best rating..."

"I know, it's on purpose."

"Master, if you're done here, may I establish the terminal point for Dr. Roman?" Matthew asks, and I nod. I'm not sure why she feels like she needs my permission to do something that the Doc wants us to get done, but that's fine, I guess. "Also, is it alright if I set the terminal point on top of your rune? Or will it damage it...?"

"No, it'll be fine, go ahead."

Tamamo and I step away so that Matthew can set down her cross-shield and lay down the terminal point on the leyline, right on top of my comms rune, which will become completely invisible within the hour.

"Your runes are so strange, Master..." Tamamo mulls, squinting hard down at my runes as they slowly but surely fade into the ground, soon to be out of sight. "They're definitely magic, but...they feel...um..."

"Artificial?" I finish her sentence pre-emptively. "Yeah, I've been told that by most other mages who come across 'em."

"Because of how you learned magic from your father, right?"

"Right, but I think it's also because of how I construct runes; because I work a lot with computers and I have computer programming experience, I build my runes like I would write computer code. While conventional magic runes rely on raw magical talent, both innate and learned, the ones I use are able to operate because I have several rune templates that I cast first, and then write instructions onto the runes afterwards, and those instructions tell the runes what to do."

"Oooh, so _that's_ how you can cast runes so fast!" Tamamo nods dramatically and comically. Add a flashing lightbulb over her head and you'll have your standard comedy slice of life anime scene. "Because normally, humans aren't able to cast runes that fast, right?"

"No, evidently you'd need Ancient Magic levels of magic mastery to be able to cast runes quickly without incantations or massive preparation. Obviously there're exceptions, as there always are, but for the most part..."

"Master!"

Vanilla Artoria's sharp call snaps my gaze over to her, and I see that Saber, who'd removed her armor during the flight so that her magic mirror wouldn't be hampered in speed, has re-donned her armaments, complete with the usual stern look, one that harkens the arrival of battle. Lily and Salter have also done the same, presumably because they, also being Artoria Pendragon, have the same uncanny sixth senses that she does.

"Something approaches. I believe this leyline is drawing malicious spirits from our surroundings to it due to its ambient latent power," Saber informs us as Tamamo, too, whips out a handful of explosive talismans, ready to defend me.

 _"She's right!"_ I can also hear Roman, who's somehow still able to hear Saber from over thirty meters away through Matthew's communicator, chirps in loudly. _"I'm picking up threats appearing around you and surrounding your position. Matthew can't engage, she's in the middle of setting up this terminal, so you all have to defend her!"_

"No, I can pause the terminal setup to defend this area first - " Matthew starts to say, but I override that.

"Keep at it, Matthew, we'll keep these guys off. Tamamo, can you get us some light?"

"Aye aye, sir ~ !"

Complying with the most cheerful affirmation I've ever heard, Caster immediately leaps up into the air, clearing a good forty meters off the summit over the central leyline. The magic mirror that's been revolving around her like a satellite, going with her, detaches itself and flies up even further, for about another twenty meters, and it begins to shine with a very bright light, like a miniature sun. Well, more accurately, it's like one of those stadium floodlights that you'd see during a nighttime baseball or football game, and it pours bright light down on the entire summit of the mountain, which is exactly what we need since the moon is covered by clouds tonight and visibility wasn't the greatest. Not that I myself really needed it, but the Sabers might.

What I'd hoped was that Tamamo's bright light would scare off the intruders without a fight, but I can still sense their foreign presences still creeping towards us, so it looks like scare tactics won't work, and as soon as I catch glimpse of them, I then understand why: dozens upon dozens of skeletal spirits sporting fabric-like magic veils that look suspiciously like wedding veils are floating over to us en masse. They make absolutely no noise, adding to their already very eerie auras.

I don't wait for them to make a move - as soon as I realize just how many there are, I snap my fingers immediately in the direction of the nearest ones. A small, controlled explosion detonates right below the closest one; because these are spirits, I want to see if my standard fare of magic attacks even affect them in the first place, and thankfully, judging by the absence of the ghost that I targeted, it does.

My initial attack doubles as a signal for the Sabers to confront the ghosts head-on as well, and Saber and Lily both dash towards the ghosts fearlessly, now that they have full visibility thanks to Tamamo's casting up in the air. Salter, for her part, simply stands her ground, but she does slash Excalibur Morgan along the ground to cause spikes of dark energy to travel along the ground in wide waves, speeding towards entire groups of ghosts and blasting them into oblivion as soon as they make contact.

Having taken out my pistols to take on large groups of enemies such as this, I alternate shots between my pistols while my eyes dart from one direction to another to facilitate my rapid aiming. I can keep my half of the summit at bay by myself, but it appears that the amount of magic energy I have to put into each shot that I fire is a bit excessive, as they're too durable for just one of my normal magic bullets to take out by itself.

Actually, let me rephrase that: these ghost enemies are a bit more durable than what my normal magic bullets can take down in a single shot, and it's because these ghosts are obviously wandering souls, which can be among the densest magical substances known to the magical world. The bullet that I fire resembles a .44 Magnum round, which is what my Desert Eagles are chambered for; but while they're powerful and have tremendous amounts of stopping power, stopping power is not so useful against targets that not only are already dead, but are made up of energy.

Rather than trying to stop these ghosts dead, I have to construct my mana bullets differently. While normal .44 rounds are big and typically flat-tipped so that the energy can spread out in all directions to cause as much internal damage as possible, these new bullets I have to build to shoot these ghosts with are pointed, mimicking miniature rifle rounds, like your typical 5.56. I also put explosive mana within the bullets too, so that way, the bullets can not only penetrate into the ghosts' heads or bodies when I shoot at them but also detonate with small explosions that are strong enough to forcefully dissipate the energies that make up the ghosts.

As experienced as I am as a magical gunslinger, I can't really do much about the fact that this procedure is immensely taxing, and while I can keep it up for a good while, I know that I'll be dead tired in due time; not only do I have to dump a lot of mana into the bullet-reloading process that's easily over a hundred times more complicated than what is optimal, but doing it all while aiming and shooting accurately at targets at least fifty plus meters away is also mentally costly. Thankfully I don't have to keep it up for too long before Tamamo, having charged her own energy from up high, hurls down seven great meteors, three of them flame and four of them ice, and they crash into the rocky ground in spectacular fashion, splashing huge chunks of broken ice and splashes of liquefied fire all around their respective impact sites.

 _"Dainei-shou!"_

Throwing both of her hands forward from over her head, Caster flings her biggest flame meteor that she's saved for last down towards the last surviving cluster of ghosts on my half of the summit, and I squint slightly at the marvelous display of pyromania that I can absolutely approve of while the pleasantly hot winds from the meteor detonation washes past me and Matthew at the center of the leyline.

"Thanks for the assist," I exhale in relief, slipping my pistols back into their storage runes as Tamamo lightly lands back down onto the ground next to me, catching her mirror as it drops down after her by snatching it out of the air gracefully.

"As always ~ "

We turn around to check on the Sabers, just in time to see Lily cleave down one last ghost with Caliburn before turning around to wave back at me.

"Master, Master! We've cleared this area, are you alright on your side too?" she calls over, and I respond simply with a thumbs up gesture as Salter and Artoria regroup with us again.

"All enemies have been neutralized. Has Lady Matthew completed her task?" Saber asks.

"Yes, almost done! Almost..." Matthew calls over, overhearing our brief conversation.

 _"Yeah, it seems like August placing these runes down before us made the terminal construction a bit longer than usual, but it should still be okay,"_ Roman comments, and Matthew stands up to indicate that her job is finished. _"Either way, good work here. What'll you do now, August?"_

"Return to the capital and wait for our scouts to come back. And once they do, we'll use whatever information they've gathered to launch an offensive of our own."

"What about this leyline, Master? For a spell to allow for long-distance communication, surely its defense is of utmost importance?" Salter reminds me, gesturing down at the runes, which are both just about to fade out of view.

"I'd be really surprised if anyone could detect this rune that's in the middle of Sicily," I shrug. "And even if they did, the magic signature that these spells give off are not threatening whatsoever. And even if someone from the United Empire managed to get here past us, by that point, they'd have free access to North Africa, so we'd have bigger problems on our hands. I'm not worried about this place, personally."

"Very well, then."

Tamamo multiplies her mirrors again to use as flying mounts, and we set off to fly back to the capital city. Now that I've slept during our flight here, I can use my own mirror now.

 _"Master, regarding the United Empire..."_ Matthew calls over through her rune.

"Is it regarding that Leff guy?"

 _"Um...yes, yes it is..."_

"Do you think it's him?"

 _"Um - y-yes! Yes, I do...!"_

"You sure?"

 _"Yes, because I was thinking about it on our way here to Mt. Etna, thinking about what you'd said when we were having that meeting with the Emperor. Leff could be the perfect reason why the United Empire Servants haven't yet invaded and conquered Rome."_

"How so? Leff is our main bad guy here, isn't he? He kidnapped your former Master or Senpai or whatever you like to call 'em and he almost killed Olga doing it. If he's behind the United Empire pulling their strings, what reason's he got for not just steamrolling Rome with all his Servants? Nero's strong, but I'm not sure if she can stand up to however many Servants they have if they decided to just get together and run her over."

 _"But...but it's not like there's anyone else..."_

"Well, you don't know that. People can just pop up randomly for any sort of reason, even no reason. There might be someone else showing up to try to stop us."

 _"But there can't be. The Rayshift technology is exclusive to Chaldea...no other facility in the world has the technology to Rayshift."_

"But we're not Rayshifting back in time anymore, technically. Now, the Rayshift is basically a glorified teleporter, remember?"

 _"Um...er...y-yeah, you're right...I forgot..."_ Matthew hangs her head, as I can see out of the corner of my eye.

"And I did say that I found it strange how we're the _only_ ones to enter these Singularities. Unless there's something more to us being able to enter these Singularities, eventually we're gonna run into other people here. I don't know if I should call the fact that we haven't yet strange or just lucky."

 _"But...even so, I think it has to be Leff. Even if what he's doing doesn't make sense now, given what we know of United Empire activities, I just think that Leff is biding his time with something. We need to find out what he's doing."_

"If that's the case."

 _"Yes, if. But I really do think it's him. And if it is, we need to act fast."_

"To save Ritsuka, right?"

Matthew doesn't answer.


	68. Boop

Against Matthew's and Tamamo's insistence that I get some sleep for the rest of the night, I instead stay up to communicate with our scouting Servants up north with the aid of my newly established magical amplifier to help facilitate our recon mission. Throughout several points of the night, several of the scouting Servants almost engaged United Empire bases, mainly because Liz and Kiyo were prone to relieving their boredom by bickering at each other, causing them to lose focus on their task of scouting and instead become belligerent. It's already bad enough that through our battle against Caligula and his forces, the United Empire know about our cooperation with Nero's Rome, so for them to also know that we're now actively scouting their defensive positions and entrenchments north of the Tiber is quite concerning, since this means that they can prepare for our inevitable offensive campaigns. Of course, they probably wouldn't expect us to attack right away, but either way, this means that we're on a deadline to get something done before they become too well-prepared, or at least more prepared than I'd like.

"How go the preparations?" Nero asks, joining me at just past the break of dawn in a makeshift headquarters that she's had her soldiers set up just outside the main palace in an area where reception from the amplifier down in Mt. Etna is best. Saber, Caster, and Matthew have vigilantly stayed with me to ensure my safety throughout the night.

"Going well, actually. Our scouts should be coming back soon, with the exception of one scout team who's making one last round of the Iberian-Gaulish border," I report, pointing down at the Spanish-French border on a large rune that I've laid down on a large wooden table. The rune sports a recreation of the map that the Doc's projected for us yesterday, and I've been using it as a reference to give orders to our scout teams. I didn't think that our scouting Servants would be able to cover so much distance in such little time, case in point Martha and St. George being able to travel all the way to Gaul on the back of Tarrasque, but I suppose these are no ordinary scouts. "Da Vinci's working on an updated map of the all the regions we've scouted, so once she's completed it, we can use it to plan out a campaign to break out of the Tiber."

"Umu! Such diligence - my expectations have been vastly surpassed, and I am most pleased to say this!" Nero puffs out her chest proudly as if what I'd done is instead her doing. "I shall prepare the troops for this campaign. We are in dire need of a decisive victory - we shall use this chance to secure ourselves just that."

"About that, actually..." I turn swiftly before Nero can depart the HQ, "if you're gonna mobilize your forces, I'd recommend marching to reinforce your forward bases in Gaul."

At the mention of her bases in Gaul, Nero's ears perk up as she's turning back to me.

"You mean to tell me that my forces in Gaul have managed to hold out against the United Empire?" she gawks at first, but this is quickly replaced by a grandly beaming smile of relief and pride.

"Yeah, Marie and d'Eon managed to make contact with them. Currently they've consolidated their numbers and are dug into this city, the city of Marseilles. Or at least that's what we call it in the future."

I point down at the map to indicate the location of the city.

"I see; that appears to be roughly the location of the city Massilia," Nero notes to herself with a rather serious look on her face. "But in order to march there, we must break through enemy lines."

"What about a naval option? Do you have any ships or a fleet?"

Nero shakes her head. "Unless you intend to suggest that I ought to repurpose our merchant and shipping fleets sailing Our Sea."

Our Sea? She must be talking about the Mediterranean.

"Yeah, probably not - we'll stick with marching. I'd still suggest considering expanding your naval capabilities just in case we do need it at some point."

Nero nods, turning around again to take her leave - but then she pauses just before she passes Saber.

"I have been meaning to say this ever since Praetor came to the aid of Rome, but..."

Without warning, Nero takes a step back away from Artoria and dramatically stabs the air with her index finger in Saber's direction.

 _"You! How dare you have my face! I know that my beauty is unparalleled, but this - this is theft!"_

Artoria simply closes her eyes and sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. She's heard this one a million times, hasn't she.

"I distinctly recall informing you that I know not of our strange and uncanny resemblance..." she mumbles.

"Not only that, but _you're multiplying!"_ Nero exclaims, redirecting her pointing finger behind her to Salter and Lily, who're both just returned from a patrol around the city walls. "Is there no limit to your shame?!"

Behind me, I can clearly hear Roman barely stifle a burst of laughter, and Matthew smacks her chest where her corresponder is, as if her hit will somehow reach through space-time to smack the Doc in the face.

"Yeah, I'd like to ask about that, why _do_ you two look the same?" I decide to fan this growing fire a bit, as perhaps is appropriate, given my powers. "I can understand Salter and Lily, since they're supposed to be different versions of you, but Nero, Jeanne, and Jalter aren't related to you, are they?"

"Not...not as far as I'm aware, no..." Saber shakes her head slowly.

"And you sound like you've had this argument a lot before." I turn to Nero while saying this.

"That is because we have met before!" Nero plants her hands on her hips firmly with indignance, but surprisingly, this firm, haughty stance that befits her as the Emperor of Rome falters as a troubled, cloudy look drapes over her face. "But...that is very strange... _this_ is very strange..."

"What is?"

"Master, we've mentioned this before, but according to standard Holy Grail War protocol, due to the way that Servants are summoned by the Holy Grail, they should not be able to retain memories of their actions and commitments that have occurred in previous Grail Wars," Matthew reminds me. "Emperor Nero is just realizing this herself, it seems..."

"No, I...I did realize this before. You have seen me speak with Caster here, have you not?" Nero explains, gesturing to Tamamo at my side. "It's just...perhaps this revelation is hitting me harder than I thought it would..."

Not really sure what the problem is here, I cross my arms slowly before asking Nero, "So...what's the problem? I thought we were wondering why you and Artoria share the same face?"

"I will try to explain, Master," Saber offers instead as Nero rubs her head and groans lightly, probably because another migraine is annoying her again. "There indeed was a conflict in which this...Red Saber, Blue Caster, and I all participated. It was not exactly a Holy Grail War, just as much as this one in which we are embroiled now is not, but a conflict nonetheless. This conflict is where we derive our...relationships."

Saber wasn't too keen on using that last word.

"Thankfully, we're on the _same_ side now, instead of what happened _last_ time..." Tamamo murmurs while tending to Nero's migraine.

"Specifically, Red Saber and I have had this kind of...meaningless conversation before. It seems that every time we meet, we are fated to argue about why we resemble each other..."

I blink a few times.

"...I'm sorry if I'm not really understanding, but...I still don't see what the problem is here," I blankly admit.

"It's less a problem and more that Nero's having a hard time letting all this sink in," Tamamo reassures me. "Nero'll get over this soon enough, I promise."

"It's just a personal hypothesis, and admittedly a baseless one, which isn't what a logical genius like me would normally do," da Vinci suddenly joins our conversation, having quietly joined us from her corner of the headquarters where she's been working on her map, "but have either of you considered the possibility that perhaps you two are related by blood?"

Both Nero and Saber gaze at da Vinci emptily.

"Oh, don't give me that kind of look," da Vinci just laughs heartily at their conspicuous incredulity. "I've been studying modern sciences in the current world, you know. It's basic knowledge now that the features in one human can be passed down through his or her descendants, features that may or may not resurface after an unknown number of generations. This could be a case where Emperor Nero passed down her physical appearance to King Artoria, no?"

Suddenly, Nero snaps out of her somewhat pained look and booms out laughing like her Migraine skill was just removed from her. "I see, I see! If such is the case, then I shall allow it! To know that my face, the epitome of beauty, has endured the test of time, and to manifest itself in the bodies of kings beyond my time - umu, umu! This is a most pleasing epiphany! You, the one who calls herself a genius, you indeed _are_ a genius!"

Da Vinci performs a polite bow. "See, Roman? This Emperor understands a genius when she sees one," she snickers over next to Matthew.

 _"Oh, come on, you just sweet-talked her into that."_

"I did no such thing, I was only stating my hypothesis."

 _"That doesn't count, you're still only telling her what she likes!"_

Meanwhile, Saber looks rather comically dumbfounded, and Salter is waving her armored hand to and fro in front of her vanilla self's face without being able to extract any kind of response.

"Hm. Master, it appears that this one has become defective. Allow me to dispose of it," Salter almost boredly recommends.

"No need for that, I'm afraid," Saber quickly snaps out of her stun on her own, despite me not casting any sort of debuff clear skill on her. "But still...I...I find it very difficult to stomach that notion..."

"Of being related to Nero?" I ask. Even though I don't sound or look the part, I'm actually very amused by the past minute's worth of transgressions.

"To think that I could possibly be the descendant of...of a tyrant..." Saber can't help but cringe. "Master, is it alright if I choose to refuse to believe in this notion?"

"Think whatever you'd like; this ain't none 'a my business."

"Thank you. That is...a relief, to say the least..."

"Come now, my esteemed descendant, the one who calls herself King of Britain!" Nero breezes back over to us again in her good mood. "If you had lived during this era, I would have gladly put you as my peerless general! I just _knew_ that our physical similarities had some further meaning to them!"

"I refuse," Saber smiles back at Nero. There's no amity behind that smile.

"Are you sure?" Nero cocks her head a little in confusion. "Oh, I think know of a physical trait that we do not share."

Without warning, the Roman Emperor reaches up with both of her hands, grabs hold of the edges of her white leotard that she wears underneath her red dress, and pulls them down.

I'm no expert in cup sizes, but it's obvious that the leotard Nero wears is doing a massive disservice for the world.

Lily can't stop herself from letting out a bit of a confused gasp, quickly raising her own gauntleted hands over her face to shield her pure and innocent eyes from such a lewd display, and Artoria herself almost keels over in reaction while Salter just stands there with no reaction whatsoever.

"S-Saber-san, Red Saber-san!" Tamamo stammers quickly as well, immediately blocking my view with her back as she swiftly places the breast cups of Nero's white leotard back in place, I can only presume. "Now is _not_ the time to be competing over our new Master, yes? Yes!"

"Hm? Whatever do you mean? Oh, you thought I was trying to seduce Praetor?" Nero just shrugs, giving Tamamo a mighty smug look. "There is no reason to seduce him when he is already mine, though?"

"He's _not_ yours, he's _mine,_ let us make that very clear!" Tamamo indignantly declares, but then she quickly clears her throat politely as she turns around. "Ahem - that aside, Master, whatever you just saw, just know that mine are at least eight times better ~ "

"M-Master, you mustn't let yourself get distracted by all this - !" Matthew stammers too, having jumped behind me to slap her hands over my eyes. The only problem with this maneuver is that I'm a good eight inches taller than she is, so she just sorta ends up slapping my cheeks. She still doesn't realize that she's not adequately covering my eyes, if at all.

 _"Wait, what's going on? What can't he see? Maybe I should take a look? I'm a doctor, after all - "_

 **"SHUT UP, YOU FAKE DOCTOR!"**

 _"But I'm not fake though, see, look, I can even show you my doctorate right here - "  
_

"So, Artoria, how does it feel knowing that your potential ancestor is also an exhibitionist?" I dryly remark.

Saber, who was in the shaky process of getting back up to her feet, flattens herself out on the ground yet again upon hearing this.

"A-Aaaah...please, get it together, older me!" Lily cries, kneeling on the ground to help herself up.

"It appears that my naive self has one great weakness," Salter murmurs. "A biting self-awareness in regards to her chest...this is valuable ammunition."

"It is nothing of the sort! Cease your baseless insults this instant, I shall _not_ stand for them!" Artoria cries, popping right back up to her feet and taking an aggressive step towards her alter self.

"Baseless? But you fell over like a pawn piece as soon as you beheld the voluptuousness of your ancestor," Salter smirks ever so slightly. "What say you, O King of Knights?"

" _ **EX - "**_

"No, please don't use your Noble Phantasm to settle minor banter," I bark immediately at the sound of Saber gripping her sword in a stance to unleash her Noble Phantasm.

"You'll have to deal with that a lot, Master, I know for a fact that Blue Saber-san has a bit of a problem with losing fights, no matter what they are," Tamamo chortles.

With trembling hands and arms, Artoria very reluctantly sets down Excalibur, resigning herself silently to having to deal with Salter's very smug expression on her face.

"What the _hell_ did we just walk into?" Jalter finally announces her and Jeanne's arrival back to the palace, having just stood there outside of the tent that houses our headquarters, watching the small chaos unfold.

"Nothing much. Da Vinci suggesting that Nero might be Artoria's ancestor, Nero showing her tits, and Salter trolling Artoria about her lack of bust size..." I list all the highlights of the past seven minutes. "Anything I miss?"

"...so you've been nothing getting productive done," Jalter glares at me.

"What do you mean, these things are all _veeeeeryyy_ productive, I assure you," I drawl sarcastically. "And I don't wanna hear that from someone who complained about carrying out one of her Master's orders."

"'Cause I thought you'd be sending me out to _fight,_ not - "

"Okay, okay, I heard you the first time. What'cha got for us?"

Still snarling at me silently, Jalter lifts up a large sack that's been sitting at her feet with lots of scrolls standing inside to show me before pushing past me, Matthew, and da Vinci to make her way over to the map table.

"We'd returned to the palace while you and the others were traveling to Mt. Etna to establish the amplifier," Jeanne explains quietly to me, taking me aside in order to do so. "My sister asked the Emperor here for papyrus scrolls, pen, and ink, and while we were scouting around, she took the time to map out details of the local geography, including enemy positions. We tried to cover as much ground as we could within the country."

Jalter is a cartographer? I glance over at Jalter, who's now busied herself with da Vinci's map, and da Vinci, curious herself to see what Jalter is doing, has joined her too.

"She knows how to draw maps?" I ask in a bit of disbelief.

"I...I guess so." Jeanne scratches her head. "I'm not sure who taught her that...especially given how she was created - er, well, _born,_ I suppose..."

"Maybe she learned it from you when Caster Gilles created her?"

Jeanne rapidly shakes her head. "No, no...that's not possible, I have no drawing talent whatsoever. Master, might I remind you that I am but a poor peasant girl raised in a small French farming village; I barely even know how to write my own name, and that is only because the Grail has given me basic reading and writing skills, just enough to get by in the modern world."

"Hm. I guess if we needed more evidence that you and Jalter aren't exactly the same person..."

"What of the others, Master? Are we the first ones to return?" Jeanne asks, looking around.

"Yeah, looks like it. We're just waiting for everyone to come back; the other Saints are probably gonna return last, since they managed to reach France."

"Then I shall report first, if that is alright, Master."

"Er, right." I probably should have asked her to report first.

"Enemy bases are, for the most part, scattered throughout the land; while they are heavily garrisoned with large numbers of soldiers, they are isolated, connected only by roads that are used by the Empire to supply them all. We Servants should be able to clear a path through the country up north so that Rome is able to reclaim the rest of the country, until we reach the city of Florence."

"Florence is the most heavily defended, huh."

"Correct. While we flew by the area, we sensed the presences of multiple Servants. We were not able to pinpoint exactly how many, but it was at least two."

I rub my chin. Maybe one of them could be Caligula...

"Besides those two or more Servants, Florence possesses the most number of troops. If the Emperor wishes to command her forces to attack Florence directly, it could be very costly. Because of this, and because there is a risk that they will summon more Servants of their own to assist, I believe that you will have to command us Servants to assault the city directly if you so choose."

"Right. I've already talked about it with Nero, I think we'll have her lead her troops over to Massilia instead."

"Massilia, sir?"

"Yeah. Uh, you might know it better as Marseilles, in the southeastern corner of France."

"Oh! Oh, I see. May I ask why?"

"Turns out there're still remnants of Nero's forces in France; when the United Empire hit, they consolidated their position in Massilia and so far they've been holding out. If we can make contact with them and strength their position, it'll help buy the Romans time over in Spain to defend the border, or better yet, we can have France act as a preliminary buffer zone to Spain."

Jeanne nods in understanding as Elizabeth and Kiyohime swoop down and land lightly right next to us.

" _Szia, Szia!"_ Liz greets us in her native tongue. "Ah, piggy, you're right here, excellent. We think we've found a way to travel straight up the country from here without any resistance!"

"Unless they find us, of course."

"Oh, but I don't think they will. It's so easy, we just hug the east coast of the country, and we can travel up and down as we please!" Elizabeth puffs her own chest out, which bears a rather amusing resemblance to how Nero likes to puff her own chest out, minus the obvious size difference.

"Might I remind you, Miss Mexican bearded lizard, that _I_ was the one who suggested the initial idea first," Kiyohime hisses behind Liz's back.

"And might _I_ remind _you_ that _I_ was the one who had to stop you from burning a whole fort down when we weren't supposed to!"

I glance at both of their clothes. A bit of blood, some tears, soot marks...

"Did you end up burning that fort down anyway?" I ask tentatively.

Liz starts to whistle to herself all of a sudden, and Kiyohime hides her face behind her iron-studded fan that she pops open quickly.

"Oh, come _on_ , you two, you've got to learn how to follow orders! That's why Master's chosen _me_ to be by his side, because I can _always_ follow anything that he orders _me_ , aha ~ " Tamamo coos in a flirty tone.

"He didn't choose you for anything! I heard the story from the Matthew piglet right here, you just forced yourself into his bed one night, didn't you? Talk about having no shame!" Liz scoffs.

"N-No shame!? Just look at what you're _wearing!"_ Tamamo exclaims in self-defense.

"Oh shut up, foxie, this is just a fashion statement! I could say the same about that skimpy half-kimono of yours! How does that thing even hold itself _up?"_

"Why you - you _dare_ insult the elegance and subdued grace of a traditional kimono? You've crossed the line, Elizabeth Bathory! You insult the kimono, you declare war on all of Japan itself!"

"Doc, ya got some popcorn back there?" I ask Matthew's corresponder, again in another dry-as-sand tone.

 _"I can make you some, I think we still have popcorn packets in the pantry somewhere, unless da Vinci ate the rest while watching the_ Da Vinci Code _..."_

"She _would_ watch that movie."

 _"You think?"_

"Master, I think I've just learned something about you, and I might be wrong about it, but..." Matthew carefully glances up at me to make sure that I pay attention to her too. "...you really do like watching people fight like this, don't you?"

"As long as it stays reasonably civil and we're not destroying a whole town in the process, yes."

"Oh...I...I see..."

"Agosto! Agosto, you'll want to see this!"

The sound of da Vinci beckoning to me grabs my already heavily divided attention, so I oblige her and head over to join her and Jalter while Liz and Tamamo continue verbally duking it out over their conflicting fashion senses. Even before I reach the table, looking at it from afar, I can tell that Jalter is hard at work adding important details to da Vinci's overarching map of Roman Italy.

"With these details, we'll be able to plan exactly how we want to attack Florence," da Vinci whispers excitedly. "I'd suspected that Florence is the United Empire's stronghold here in Italy, but this cements it now. Oh, this is so exciting ~ "

"So being a field tactician also appeals to you, huh..." I reply upon greeting her.

"But of course! Excelling at _all_ arts, regardless of the field - such is what defines a Renaissance Man such as I, as the contemporary world has dubbed us," da Vinci gives off a mighty patrician laugh. "I _do_ so love that title."

Instinctively zoning out da Vinci's self-ego-stroking, I focus more on the map itself. Jalter is busy marking the locations of enemy garrisons, accentuating different kinds of terrain that could pose threats to the Roman army, and highlighting major paths of interest for our viewing convenience.

"This's somethin' else. Where did you learn how to become a cartographer?" I ask Jalter directly.

"Hmph. I don't need to tell you," she scoffs, continuing her work without pause.

"I guess not, since the more important thing's that you're doing this without even having me tell you to do this."

"Hey, don't misunderstand, I'm only doing this because the easier we make it for the Romans, the faster we fix this Singularity and get back home. Everything that we're doing here's such a total pain in the ass, after all."

I snap my fingers quickly. "We have a word for people like you, Jalter."

"Huh?"

"You're what the Japanese call a tsundere."

Jalter throws her ink pen at my face, and the butt end of it boops me right on the tip of the nose.


	69. Strange

_"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

A ferocious splash of hellish fire flattens the front wooden gates of the first major United Empire installation that's located just north of Rome beyond the Tiber; it's located in a small valley in between two moderate hills to control the major road that runs through this valley. Having given my Servants today's battle orders, I've tasked them with systemically neutralizing all the major enemy bases that they've found in a night's worth of scouting, so now I'm riding one of Tamamo's magic mirrors with Caster herself riding alongside me on her own, spectating the havoc that Jalter, Elizabeth, and Kyohime are causing in the base.

"There they go again, those _beasts_..." Tamamo mutters disapprovingly, watching as Liz swoops down from her flight trajectory and impales a soldier to swoop him back up into the air again, laughing as she watches him writhe desperately while hanging about forty feet up in the air before Liz decides she's had enough fun with this particular victim and boots him off her lance. "Such inelegant ways of fighting. I hope you don't get any ideas from _them_ , Master..."

"Too late," I reply dryly, myself watching Kiyohime, who's transformed back into her human self as she landed at the front of the burned-down front gates, calmly strut through into the base and casually light all the buildings around her on fire with methodical waves of her war fan.

"T-Too late!? Don't tell me - "

"Well, I already kinda fight like them, I thought you could tell."

Tamamo lurches forward in protest. "That's not true! Your fighting style, while mostly foreign to me, is elegant and precise! You don't waste any more effort than you need to, and your magic, while also foreign, is simple, beautiful, and graceful! You don't go around doing things like _that!"_

Caster points down emphatically at the ground, and I follow her lead, just in time to see Jalter lift up a United Empire soldier by the face with her gauntleted right hand and set him and his whole body aflame, dropping the corpse onto the ground to her side to let it burn to ash.

I dryly chuckle. If only she saw what I did to Caster Gilles back at Orleans...

Because of the surviving Roman garrison at Massilia, I've decided that we'll risk leaving Iberia alone to the Roman troops there to defend, as Nero has sent out word to them to bolster their defenses against a possible United Empire campaign there. Instead, Nero, with Jeanne and Saber Lily as escort, is commanding a large portion of her army in Rome to sortie out to Massilia to reinforce their position there, as I'd suggested, where Marie and Martha, both of whom I'd ordered to just stay in Massilia to help defend the troops there, currently reside. The reason why this is possible and not a lethally risky venture by leaving Rome with not enough troops to defend is because I'm also having the Servants make a unified push northward to uproot United Empire positions and start taking back ground; we obviously can't track down _all_ the enemy troops in the region, but hitting every one of their major outposts will certainly wreck both their morale and military power in the peninsula and give Rome some sorely needed breathing room and not have to worry about dealing with United Empire raids every other day like what seemed to be happening before we got here. The United Empire will definitely become aware of our Servant force if they haven't been already and concentrate on us as their primary targets rather than Rome, and depending on how badly we beat them out of this region, they'll likely spare no efforts to deal with us as quickly as possible.

As for myself, initially I was supposed to escort Nero and her task force up to Massilia, but I changed my mind just before heading out, which isn't what I like doing normally, because I wanted to tag along with at least one of my own Servant task forces I've ordered to push the United Empire away from Rome. Not necessarily because I wanted to have a direct hand in the fighting, but because there are likely going to be Servants who're gonna show up at some point. On the surface, I'm sending my Servants to beat back the enemy troops beyond the Tiber, but the ulterior motive is to lure out the enemy Servants that the United Empire possesses in their ranks so that we get a good sense of how strong they are Servant-wise. Like I mentioned before, the sheer strength of the Servants is sure to incite some kind of reaction from them, and the only way to fight against Servants effectively is to send Servants of your own, I'd imagine.

But I can't be everywhere at once, and I also need to get to Massilia somehow anyway, so I decided to trail behind Jalter's team of herself, Kiyohime, and Elizabeth - because Liz and Kiyohime obviously both have the Dragon trait, and because Jalter has the power to control dragons, Jalter was the logical team captain of sorts so that she could keep the two of them in line in case they start bickering with and fighting each other in the middle of a battle.

But then again, as Tamamo also pointed out to me earlier, having the two of them be on different teams would've worked just as well. I told her that it'd be funny seeing Jalter struggle to keep the two of them in line, and Tamamo asked me if I have a sadistic streak in me somewhere, to which I didn't answer. Not like Jalter should have any trouble with controlling Liz and Kiyo anyway, if her dragon power is legitimate.

I continue to watch the chaos and bloodshed unfold at the base beneath us. Kiyohime continues to set more buildings on fire, leaving soldiers who try to confront her in her wake as weakly writhing fireballs on the dirt; Jalter is siccing dragons that she summons out of thin air onto a garrison of soldiers towards the north side of the base, some of whom are trying to escape through the northern gates after seeing three young women curbstomp everything in their path; and Elizabeth, deciding that she's swung around her wicked halberd enough for now, is currently singing in the middle of the base with a microphone that she's pulled out from bloody God knows where, causing the soldiers within Liz's lethal acoustic range to succumb slowly and gruesomely to her weaponized vocal chords by sinking to their knees with their hands over their ears for a few minutes before blood starts creeping out of every orifice in their heads. If the men are lucky, they die being subjected to Liz's giant amp towers that've sprouted up from the ground from her own summoning runes well before their physical bodies reach their limit. If they're not, well, they die by having their heads implode without any other warning than the blood that's dripping out of their mouth, eyes, nostrils, and ears. It's like watching one of those stick-figure flash animations that were made a decade ago where the stick figures are animated having their heads blow up.

"Um...Master?" Tamamo peeps from next to me as I survey the carnage, silently grumbling to myself in my head that if I'd come prepared with another rifle, or if I'd decided to just keep the MK-17 rifle that I used for the Orleans campaign rather than returning it to Chuck immediately, I'd have a way to easily provide some kind of support from this range.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I've...just been, um, wondering..." Tamamo leans over so that she can get a better look at my face. "You seem like you have a lot of experience leading an army. Maybe you were a general in a previous life?"

"What's with that all of a sudden?"

"No, it's just - " Tamamo waves her hands around, getting a bit flustered. "I just can't help but notice that someone like you would know how to handle such a big group of Servants. Not only that, but ever since you got here, you've always known exactly what to do. It's barely been a day since we got here and look how much progress we've made...!"

I just blink at her once. This lack of reaction from my end isn't what Tamamo is expecting, so she too just awkwardly sits on her mirror, not knowing what to say.

"Uuuum, uhh, I-I meant - I meant progress that _you_ made...!" Tamamo corrects herself, even though that isn't why I'm just staring at her.

"What, am I the best Master you've ever come across?" I narrow my eyes at her a bit. "'Cause if so, I think that says more about all the other Masters you've had in the past than it says about me."

"H-How rude!" Tamamo bursts out suddenly, catching me off guard due to how polar opposite of a tone she adopts for this compared to just a moment ago. "You are by far _not_ the best Master I've ever had, thank you very much! Now, granted, you _are_ very skilled and powerful, to be certain," Tamamo tempers her outburst on her own somewhat. "But there is one Master who stands head and shoulders above the rest! He is indomitable, and it shall remain that way for eternity!"

I nod in response. "That's good."

"...eh?" Tamamo isn't sure what to make of my response this time. "...but...why's that good?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I just thought...that maybe you'd feel a little...jealous, maybe...?"

"...why would I be jealous over the fact that you have a Master you prefer over me?"

At a loss for words, Caster can't stop her cheeks from burning red from the inside. But eventually her luminescent blush does fade as she digests my words further.

"...do you not care about us that much, Master?" Tamamo murmurs quietly, her fox ears drooping just like her tone. "To be okay with another Master being better...I don't know, as much as I have another Master to whom I'm eternally faithful, hearing you say that is...a little..."

"Eternally faithful. Yes, please tell me more about that subject, this coming from someone who sneaks into another man's bed every night."

"M-Mikoooooon! ! ! That's - that's _different!"_ Tamamo pleads, her tail standing up in alarm.

"So you're telling me that sleeping with another guy while you're faithful to someone else is okay, huh? I mean, Servants don't really adhere to human standards and logic, so..."

 _"Y-Y-You just don't understand the circumstances, Master, you bullyyyyy! ! ! !"_ Tamamo begins to resort to physical violence to get me to shut up - physical violence as in bopping me on the side of the head as she's wont to do. "And besides, there's been nothing but _wholesome_ bedtime activities so far, you hear me?! Wholesome! _WHOLESOME! ! !"_

"Uh-huh."

 _"Why do you sound like you don't believe me!"_

"I wonder."

 _"MASTEEEERRR! ! ! !"_

God, it's fun teasing people.

"Actually, tell me a bit about that one Master you like the most. Kinda interested."

Tamamo instantly drops her pouty attitude at this mention.

"Aye aye, sir ~ !" Tamamo excitedly beams as she sits up straight on her mirror. "Her name was Kishinami Hakuno, and she was the _beeeeestest_ Master _ever ~ !"_

Caster swoons a bit, giddily pressing her hands against her cheeks.

"She was actually quite the average Master when we first met, actually. She didn't have any real magical talent, no strong points, nothing really exceptional or noteworthy..." Tamamo continues with a quick cough to clear her throat. "...but she did have one thing, the thing that attracted me to her in the first place: her determination. Eeeeee ~ ! ! !"

Tamamo goes full fangirl mode again.

"Oh my God, whenever she'd have that determined look on her face, whenever she'd resolved to do something with all of her might..." Tamamo whispers rather dramatically, "she'd have this subtle but fierce look in her eyes - oh, my God, and her eyes, her eyeeeeeees! Kyaaaaaa - "

She starts whipping her face to and fro, still with her hands squeezed against her cheeks.

"Well, actually, I said earlier that she didn't have any real talent at first, but that started changing as she matured as a Master," Tamamo clarifies, snapping out of fangirl mode for a moment.

"How did she mature?" I ask.

"Mainly by becoming familiar with her responsibilities as a Master. I'll concede that when it comes to raw magical ability, she couldn't hold a candle to you, Master, because she had to rely on the use of Mystic Codes and Code Casts to perform magical abilities. But as they say, what you lack in one area, you make up for in others, and that's what she did. She commanded me extraordinarily well and relied on her wits, quick thinking, and instinct to succeed where perhaps a more magically talented Master could have not."

I nod as Caster talks. "Yeah, I can see how that worked out for her."

Tamamo has become strangely silent, given how animated she was just a moment ago, and when I glance over at her to see what's up, Tamamo, seeing this in turn, gives me a quick but awkward smile.

"I-I'm sorry, it - it must've felt awkward for you to, um, listen to me ramble about her, especially since I called her my favorite Master in front of my current Master..."

"It's fine, like I said."

"Um, actually, I'm a bit curious myself to know why you'd like to know more about her..."

"Your other Master whom you prefer?" I shrug quickly. "No big reason, I just like listening to other people's stories. I'm a good listener. I think."

Tamamo looks incredibly uncomfortable now. Reading her facial expression, it's crystal clear that she doesn't really believe me when I say that her fawning over this Kishinami Hakuno girl is no big deal.

"I'm really not bothered, Tamamo," I repeat myself, turning to her on my flying mirror to convey as best I can that I'm serious about this sentiment. I also begin speaking in Japanese to her, as if that'll drive home the point better somehow. "If you have someone you prefer over me, that's fine. We've barely known each other for longer than a week or two, if that, while you must've spent a lot of time with Hakuno and come to have a kind of relationship with her that's unmatched by anyone else."

"Well, I...I understand that, Master. It's just - I can't help but remember that night when you summoned me," Tamamo blurts out, her fox ears drooping down so low that they're starting to mimic her bangs, though they don't reach down quite that far. "When you asked those people from Chaldea if you could terminate your contract or whatever. With that in mind, I...I just can't shake the feeling that maybe that time and what you're saying now are...you know, related."

I shrug again, but with wider gestures with my arms.

"You're not wrong. Just as a person, I tend to be pretty aloof and distant, and how I make my living - working at home alone, taking independent contracts as a mage-for-hire similar to a mercenary soldier - doesn't help my case much. This too isn't any different: the reason why I'm a Master to begin with is because Chaldea chose me to become a Master to assist them with the Grand Order protocol, that's it."

As I'm elaborating, Tamamo's neck droops along with her ears to the point where it looks like she's hanging her head as I'm berating her or something. I do feel bad seeing her like this, because what little I know of her tells me that she'd much rather have a Master who's engaging and focuses on her a lot, and I'm not exactly the best person to do either of those things. I'm sure this Hakuno girl did these things well, though, but then again, I doubt that she was in a Holy Grail War where she had to command like eighteen other Servants along with Caster.

But she doesn't give up: Tamamo quickly snaps her eyes back up at me, refreshed with a certain kind of determined vigor.

"But that's not the only thing, is it?" she muses aloud at me, and I tilt my head at her in questioning.

"What do you mean?"

"You say that as a person, you're aloof and distant, and that your lines of work also reinforce that kind of personality. But I bet there's something more to it, isn't there? There always is, it's never that simple!"

I scratch my temple awkwardly.

"...but it _is_ that simple, though," I say slowly.

 _"Objection, Master!"_ Tamamo jabs her finger at me powerfully, with her fingernail stopping in place a hair off from my forehead. "You're too reserved and passive of a mage to _not_ be keeping a secret or two. I've come across my fair share of eccentric, large-ham mages, and I think it's safe to say that you're acting too weird to be a mage!"

I notice that she's conveniently ignoring herself.

"And it's not just a flimsy accusation based just on your personality, either!" Tamamo crosses her arms matter-of-factly while having a finger raised like she's a detective trying to Sherlock Holmes a murder case; she's just missing a pipe and/or a cane to pull it off. "Your mana signature - I said that I thought there was something a bit off about it, and now, after the past week of sleeping with you, the more I get used to your magical signature, the more I think that there's something weird about it!"

I assume my best Bob Ross impersonation by resting my right elbow on my knee and then setting my cheek against my knuckles.

"You said that you're a mage who learned how to use magic through a custom system that was designed for ordinary people to use magic, but then you also mentioned that the magic you use is something only you can use because it ends up costing too much energy for an ordinary person to handle. Not only that, but you've performed magic that's not only high-powered but also highly advanced, like object storage, spontaneous explosions, and a long-range magical amplifier! Not even _I_ can do that - I have to use talismans, and my parameters as a Servant with you as a Master are fairly reasonable, too!"

Tamamo is leaning closer and closer to me as she's placing her claims.

"But the biggest kicker here is that you claim to never have been a Master before, and that you've never dealt with us Servants before this!" she exclaims. "And yet here we are like you know how to handle us. It can't just be that you're _this_ good!"

"Maybe I am," I speculate light-heartedly. "I'm a bona fide mercenary, right? I charge high prices to my clients. They get what they pay for; because I'm one of the best that they can get, I cost more, so that's natural."

"Then that just means that you're too talented of a mage to be just an ordinary human who just happened to learn to use magecraft!"

"That's not enough grounds to prove that I'm anything but, though, I don't think." I glance back down at the United Empire base that's being thoroughly thrashed right now. "I know plenty of people out there thanks to my travels who're just normal people but have prepared themselves adequately in case of a run-in against a hostile mage, though admittedly they aren't large in number and I've met most of them through the RGA. Muggles can surprise you with what they can come up with; that's one of the reasons why I'm so dangerous to modern-day mages, because they either can't or refuse to think or fight in ways that are outside of their usual comfort zones."

Sighing shortly, I drop my Bob Ross pose to meet Tamamo's eyes again directly.

"I think you're trying to look into this a bit too hard, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reason why you're doing this is because I'm the polar opposite of the Master you liked the most," I theorize to her. "You even said yourself that Hakuno wasn't very magically talented at all and took a while to mature, I think, whereas I seem to know what I'm doing."

"You _do_ know what you're doing," Tamamo pouts a bit.

"Well, we'll see about that, but anyways. I do think that you're maybe trying to make a Hakuno out of me where that really shouldn't be a thing. Like, if your wish is to reunite with Kishinami Hakuno, I'll do whatever I can to help you achieve that wish."

But Tamamo shakes her head sadly.

"Unfortunately, as much as I appreciate that gesture, Master, that...I don't think that will happen," Caster mumbles, crestfallen. "As soon as I was summoned, I sensed that this is not the same world in which I met Hakuno and served as her Caster. I already told you what I feel about the Holy Grail, that I wish to have nothing to do with it, and even if in some wild scenario in which I did choose to put the Holy Grail's alleged services to use, I don't feel that is a wish that can be made without consequences that would be worse than my deepest nightmares. And...about the whole trying to make a Hakuno out of you..."

Tamamo raises her head again, once more.

"You're...a bit right. Not entirely, but I won't deny that I do miss her very much," she concedes. "The memories I have with her, given this Holy Grail War's circumstances, are very fresh on my mind, as if...as if the days I spent with her were just the other week or something. But that being said, I don't want you to get the feeling that I would just ditch you for her. In this world, you are my Master, the one who summoned me to assist you in the Grand Order. As strange of a Master that you might come off to me, I do still believe that you're acting out of the goodness of your heart to help save the world from these Singularities, and you've been doing just that."

After pausing, Tamamo blushes a little.

"And...I'm sorry for saying all this, this - this isn't the time to be talking about this, oh dear..." Caster frowns, upset with herself while her whole face and neck redden in unison. "Please forgive me, Master, I shouldn't have...I got a little carried away..."

I just calmly smile at her.

"You look like you don't believe me again!"

"No, I believe you."

 _"Uuuuu, I just can't trust you when you smile at me like thaaaat!"_

"Why so serioooooous?"

 _"Masteeeeeer! ! ! !"_


	70. Massilia

Having traveled at full speed to reach Massilia, we manage to reach it in just over an hour. To myself, I marvel at the sheer speeds at which Servants somehow travel - and to think that we humans are still stuck on airplane, space shuttle, and rocket technology. Well, at least to those who aren't aware of the existence of magic.

"Um, Master, I think I'm seeing trouble up ahead!"

"Yeah, I see it."

Acknowledging Tamamo's alert, I squint off into the distance, braving against the high speed winds in doing so. The Roman encampment is located at the bottom of a small cliff and protected somewhat by a few sparse groves of trees, with a small but well-fortified town just to its south. But the problem isn't located in the camp or the town themselves, it's the smoldering craters that are puffing up around the town's perimeter. Martha's Tarrasque is rampaging through while a small herd of glass horses stampede along with it, attacking enemy soldiers that appear to be assaulting the town's southern defenses. Archers from the town's walls are supporting Tarrasque and the glass horses, and their steady stream of arrows litters the ground, knocking down a few more enemies to add to the rampaging dragon's and horses' casualty count.

"More battles? Good, good...maybe being ordered to lead this group wasn't a bad decision at all," Jalter chuckles softly over to me. "Of course, you wouldn't mind if I go on ahead?"

"Yeah, secure the southern front, I see a decently sized scouting party tryin'a run away from some of the Roman troops from the camp," I nod back. "Tamamo, you're with me, we're gonna help stop that scouting party. Liz, Kiyo, help Jalter secure the town perimeter."

"But, Master, I'm quite tired of having to fight alongside this Mexican bearded lizard, is it too much to ask to be able to stay by your side for this battle?" Kiyohime requests politely but compellingly.

 _"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not Mexican, I don't have a beard, and I'm not a goddamn LIZAAAAAAAARD?!"_ Elizabeth cries in rage.

"If you promise to not call Liz a Mexican bearded lizard, I'll allow it," I negotiate with our resident yandere Berserker, deciding to throw Liz a bone.

"Done. I suppose you should thank your Master, Elizabeth, I was quite fond of that name for you," Kiyohime dangerously gazes over at Liz, popping her fan open as her snakelike pupil slits emerge again.

"Th-That doesn't make me feel much better!"

"Just remember to be careful out there, you'll probably be by yourself for this one," I warn Elizabeth as we start to split up in our different ways. "If you run into any trouble, let us know right away."

Still sulking, Liz swerves off with her wings to trail underneath Jalter and scan for enemies to skewer with her halberd.

"You're not going to help Martha and Marie, Master?" Tamamo asks with concern.

"They can handle themselves; if they can't, Jalter most certainly can," I reassure her. "Rather, that enemy force that's being chased out - I'd like to stop 'em."

"Yes, I agree. We shan't allow valuable tactical information about our positions here in the frontier be given away to our enemies so easily," Kiyohime nods quietly. "Moreover, the entire enemy force is on horseback, while the pursuing force is purely on foot. We are the only ones in position to stop the enemy."

"Pretty much. Kiyo, go on ahead and stop their advance; we'll pincer them so that they have nowhere to run, but make sure to leave one or two alive so we can interrogate them."

"Understood, Master, I shall go. Please, watch me."

I nod, causing Kiyohime to smile wonderfully for someone who's supposed to be an unreasonable and possibly deranged yandere, but perhaps such adjectives need not be used to describe such a girl in the first place.

"You sure know how to deal with someone like her, Master," Tamamo mutters suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at me. "Don't tell me you've had past experience?"

"Let's just say that I've met all kinds of people over the course of my life and dealt with them enough to have a rough idea how to deal with them."

"And you're how old again? Those sound like words that an old man should be saying, Master! You're not an old man!"

I chuckle dryly. "Aye. But on some days I really do feel like one..."

"You're not saying that just to sound cool, are you?"

"Why, do you prefer silver foxes? I guess it'd make sense..."

"N-No! Well, I mean, I should say, I wouldn't - er, I mean, if - as long as my Master is a good person, and he or she is someone I find to be handsome or beautiful, then - then I'll be happy with them!" Tamamo blurts out, turning amazingly red in the face.

"Then come back in maybe about another twenty years, maybe I'll age like fine wine. Though I highly doubt it."

"You're - you're perfectly handsome as you are now, Master! You don't need to change anything just for me ~ !"

"Why thank you, it's not every day that my mediocre looks get complemented beyond their actual worth..."

 _"H-H-How can you say that with a completely straight face?! You're teasing me again aren't you, Masteeeeeeeer! ! !"_

With Tamamo's frustrated wail trailing behind us, we closely follow behind Kiyohime's dragon form snaking through the air. But as we gain on the fleeing enemy force, I catch a glimpse of something streaking through the sky to my left.

 _"HYAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA - "_

A garbled mix of moderately deranged laughter and mild human speech trails behind this streak of gray, and Tamamo and I watch as the gray blob that somewhat resembles a human shape drops out of the sky and smashes straight into the center of the escaping enemy task force. I look up at the sky for a moment.

"Weird, I thought today wouldn't have any meteor showers..." I mumble to myself.

"That's no meteor shower, Master, that's a _Servant!"_ Tamamo cries.

"Right. I guess there're other Servants besides Kiyo and Liz who know how to fly?"

"Uhh, I - I wouldn't call that _flying_ , necessarily..."

Kiyohime, in her dragon form, strafes over the enemy party that's been split in half thanks to the intervening Servant's crash-landing and breathes a layer of fire in front of the front half of the enemies who've managed to break through and continue onwards, and they, too, are forced to to halt in their tracks as their horses, terrified of the sudden flames spawning in front of them and the sight of a massive dragon pounding the ground before them, rear up in fright and begin stampeding in every direction out of control while their riders try their hardest to keep their steeds under control.

"Tamamo, get the ones further way; I'll handle the ones right underneath us!" I shout suddenly, and I slide off my mirror as soon as I assess the movements of the scattering cavalry.

"Understood, please be careful down there, Master!"

Plummeting down to the ground, I cast another magic rail underneath my feet just like I did at the beginning of the previous singularity so that I can safely lose altitude without having to spend a lot of mana bracing my body for ground impact. Blue sparks of mana spit from the bottoms of my shoes grinding against the magic rail that I'm constantly constructing; more specifically, the sparks are the byproduct of my magically reinforced soles that are grinding against the magic rail so that my actual shoes don't get worn down in a matter of minutes.

There's barely any tree cover here, and the enemy cavalry who've split off in my direction have strayed far from the cobble road that they were taking to try to escape, so once I've entered a stable trajectory while sliding parallel to the ground at a height of about twenty meters or so, I pull out my pistols and start gunning the horsemen off their rides. The magic bullets that I've loaded my guns with have degraded in potency, since they've been sitting in the magwells in pure energy form without any physical container to hold their shape, resulting in mana leakage and thus much worse accuracy and power, so I miss many more shots than what I'm used to. There's even a few enemy soldiers who manage to shrug off the bullets I've dinked them with because their potency's degraded so much; the old bullets probably hit about as hard as a ping pong ball. However, I solve that problem by taking a few moments to reload my guns with newly constructed mana bullets once the old ones are shot out, and I then finish the job and screech softly to a halt in the middle of the air.

"Everyone's taken care of on my end, how about you?" I call over to Tamamo.

"Ditto that, and Kiyo-chan's secured the front. Looks like that other Servant's still chopping people up down there..." Tamamo responds, and I can hear the disgust in her voice; she's probably watching that other Servant who nosedived headlong into the enemy scout team kill off the stragglers.

"So much for taking someone alive for information, but that's fine," I sigh. "Looks like we have backup, though."

A smaller group of soldiers is approaching our position on the cobble road, from the direction of the camp stationed north of the town of Massilia, but given that their standards match the Aquila standards carried by Nero's troops, I can safely assume that they're friendly as I head back to regroup with my Servants. Hopefully they'll also see us as allies too and not mistake us for more potential hostiles.

I drop down and land beside Tamamo and Kiyohime, both of whom are looking on at the gray-skinned Servant who's still laughing to himself in the middle of the road amidst strewn body parts and dismembered bodies of enemy soldiers whose blood now seep into the cracks of the cobble stones. He's wearing what can be described disturbingly accurately as metal bondage gear, ignoring the large and bloody gladius that he clutches with his left hand.

"Be careful, Master. This may be obvious, but that's a Berserker," Tamamo warns me, putting out an arm in front of me to shield me in case my arrival catches his attention. "Kiyo-chan, are you sure you can't talk to him? Out of all of us, you're the most qualified."

"Qualification is irrelevant when it comes to us Berserkers, for the nature of my Madness Enhancement differs from his," Kiyohime says quietly, glaring at the Berserker with snake-like eyes behind her fan. "And thanks to Master's excellent sense of rationality, I am surprisingly able to keep my own Madness in check."

"Y-You _can?_ Master, has she told you this?" Tamamo, looking genuinely surprised, turns to me, and I shake my head.

"She's always been like this, hasn't she?" I shrug nonchalantly.

"Um, no, not - not really. She's a bloodthirsty yandere type, you know? She'd recognize any Master she forms a contract with to be her lover from her legend, and she could very well chase after you to kill you eventually if you don't keep her satisfied!"

"My nature is not completely suppressed, as you yourself may have noticed with my behavior, Master," Kiyohime smiles nicely over to me, "but if you did not possess such a strong adherence to reason and levelheadedness, you could have very well found me attempting to kill even my own good friend here in Tamamo-san in the name of capturing your heart."

"Not that I'd lose, though," Tamamo scoffs. "But still, that's...I never knew Kiyo-chan would find a Master who could keep even her in check just through the influence of their contract."

"I'm gonna assume that this is a really roundabout way of getting me to go talk to this guy so that you two don't have to," I venture a guess to the girls as the friendly squad of soldiers approaches us from the other side, with the mad laughing Berserker still in between us. I'm actually rather surprised that the Berserker has spent all this time just standing in the middle of his own carnage doing nothing but laughing for a few minutes straight, but I suppose that's a Berserker for you.

"That won't be necessary, I'll handle him," a woman's voice calls out to us, and we look up to find a lady touting a simple yet subtly ornate sword and small shield proceeding where her soldiers have halted. While the Roman soldiers are all neatly clad in armor, as one would expect of soldiers of a historically renowned empire, their squad leader has no such armor on her own person; if anything, it's the opposite, with her cleavage and bosom amply bared as a result of her white corset and torsoless epauletted shirt with a tall collar. Yes, something tells me that she, too, is a Servant, if her magic signature didn't already tell me so. "Hey, Spartacus, the oppressors here are finished, thanks to you. Let's return to camp and wait for more of them to arrive."

"Oppressors? _**OPPRESSOOOOOOOORS! ! ! !"**_

Spartacus retches his back and bellows the word out into the air directly upwards. The strength of his bellow is strong enough to rattle the few trees that are around us, startling the birds resting among their branches and causing them to take off into the sky. Tamamo and Kiyohime both clench their hands over their ears, Tamamo especially, since her hearing is more sensitive thanks to her fox peripherals, but Boudica and the soldiers merely squint in response, as if they've dealt with Spartacus's shit enough to last them all the rest of their lives.

"Hear me, O fellow soldier from a distant future," the Berserker turns to me, and his gaze is truly a sight to behold, with blood streaked across his body and face and his eyes fixed on me without blinking or remorse. Both Tamamo and Kiyohime step before me to act as buffers against Spartacus as soon as he turns to me, but Spartacus doesn't seem to even acknowledge their presences. "You, who are another battered champion who has entered this battlefield, this garden of conflict full of oppressors who are committing countless and unspeakable atrocities as they continue to attack this empire! It is time to rise up! Let us battle together, side by side, you, who dares to defy tyranny, no matter what the era!"

"Oh ho? Looks like Spartacus finally met someone he likes at first glance. Usually it's either just silence or someone's head rolling, so I guess that's a good sign...I think?" the lightly clothed lady with the sword and shield chuckles awkwardly. Her voice has, surprisingly, a very thick Welsh accent, not unlike what you'd hear from modern day Wales - perhaps what's even more surprising is that I can even understand what she's saying. "Oh, I should really introduce myself before anything else. Boudica, Queen of Britannia - er, _former_ Queen of Britannia - at your service."

Former...I think it's best if I leave the question of why she's suddenly working under Nero's banner for another time.

"I'm August, Augustus if you'd like to call me by my Latin name," I introduce myself. "These are Tamamo and Kiyohime, they're two of the Servants I've brought with me to assist with securing this area by the time Nero arrives."

"Oh, so the emperor's on her way? Or rather, she should be the emp _ress_ , but I think she prefers being called Emperor..." Boudica murmurs to herself, contemplating sadly. "In any case, thanks for the assist; I was going to lead the boys over to the town, but with help from Marie and Martha, we could focus on making sure no enemies came knocking on the town's northern flank. I assume those two are also working with you?"

"Whatever Servant you've met who _isn't_ trying to kill you is probably with us, so yeah."

"Fair enough by me. We can talk the rest of this out back at camp; we're out of position as it is right now," Boudica gestures for us to return, and so we follow her back to her troops so that we can get started heading back. "Must've been a long ride here. Did you come straight here from - "

"Give me your name, O fellow champion of freedom," Spartacus asks me, having made a point to walk beside me as we march back with Boudica's troops. Tamamo and Kiyohime both glare at Spartacus like they're going to put him in the dirt, but I motion to them behind my back to stand down. "Let us revolt together against this inhumane empire of now and all the ones that are to come and shout in triumph under a free sky!"

" - Rome? If so, you must all be quite tired, you more so, I'd imagine," Boudica just keeps talking with Spartacus rambling in the background.

"We actually flew here, and it only took us about an hour, so we're fine. My name's Augustus," I mention also to Spartacus.

"Augustus - the name of an oppressor!" Spartacus yells, reeling like I've betrayed his best hopes, but he recovers quite quickly. "However, names are secondary to action in the name of rebellion against oppressors both in name and action. And your actions far outshine your name; this Spartacus knows it!"

"Thanks."

"Yeah, Spartacus definitely likes you. It's a good thing that you seem to be dealing with him pretty well, too," Boudica remarks, looking on with cautious amusement.

"Better this than the other way around," I shrug. "What's the situation here now? Martha and Marie told me that you guys were just barely hanging on because this area's so isolated, away from the rest of Nero's territories."

"It's just as they've told you: Spartacus and I were chain-summoned in this area just in time to defend the garrison here from some of those invading United Empire forces, and the two of us have been holding down the fort, almost literally, for some time. Supplies isn't an issue, at least not yet, since we can rely on the town for them for the time being, but reinforcements is something they can't provide since they need their own men to defend the walls. If Marie and Martha hadn't arrived to help us defend this place, we would have lasted maybe about three or four more major fights before it'd be down to just me and Spartacus, with the rate at which the United Empire's been throwing raids at us to try to capture the town."

"You'll get your reinforcements; Nero should be here in a few days with her army. In the meantime, I've got the Servants I've brought with me harassing the United Empire's troops across the country to keep them on a back foot so that we can secure our frontier and push the borders out."

"Wonderful news! Oh, and speaking of Servants, there are more who've been chain-summoned into this Singularity along with us, just in other places, who are also fighting for Nero. Though I don't necessarily know their exact positions at the moment..."

"Really? Then Nero didn't tell me about them. Matter of fact, she didn't even tell me to expect you or Spartacus."

"Oh, that shouldn't be a big deal; she's a bit forgetful because of those migraines that she always complains about having. And it's not like we could've had any sort of welcoming party ready for you either; we were likely to be in the middle of another raid when you arrived, and that's what ended up happening, so go figure."

We make it back to Boudica's camp, just north of the town, where we're greeted by the rest of the Servants who've successfully repelled the raids attacking into the southern walls of Massilia.

"Master!" Marie waves over to us as we approach, still sitting sideways on the back of a glass horse, and then she shyly puts a V with her fingers over her eyes and calls with a bit of a shaky voice, "W-Wass'up!"

"I see you've been watching a lot of movies with Jalter back home," I remark, suppressing a greatly amused smirk from surfacing.

"And so what?" Jalter snaps back, since she's standing next to Marie and her glass horse.

"I-It wasn't the movies, Master! Mozart, um, he - he's been teaching me modern greetings, you see, and - and evidently, the cool way to greet friends is to say 'What's up', but by slurring the syllables, so it turns into 'Wassup' instead! I just - " Marie's face is growing redder and redder as she tries to defend her modern style of speech. "Oh, maybe - maybe you prefer this instead, Master? 'Asaaaa, 'du - "

"Okay, that's enough, Marie, thank you. Good work everyone, defending the town - all we need to do is keep at it until Nero arrives with her army to reinforce this place. In the meantime, depending on enemy troop movement, we'll have our own little expeditions to sabotage United Empire operations in this area if the opportunities present themselves, so you're all going to be on scout duty," I motion to all the Servants around us, except for Boudica and Spartacus."

"I have been communicating with the others, and they are successfully pushing back enemy troops further north. Surprisingly, no one has encountered enemy Servants yet..." Martha notes with concern.

"Yeah, that means something's fishy; no way the United Empire folks look at their troops getting pushed back by Servants and not do anything about it, especially when they have however many Servants of their own," I contemplate.

"If they're not bothering with the front lines in the middle of the country, maybe they're looking at other avenues of attack?" Liz suggests. "You did risk leaving Spain open so that we could concentrate on securing Italy first..."

"Right, but we won't know what they're up to until they decide to make a move somewhere. It's one of those unfortunate cases where right now, there's not much we can do until our enemy does something, and then we can react to whatever they're doing. But thankfully for us in our position, we just need to wait until Nero gets here, and then if the United Empire still hasn't done anything by that point, we can take the initiative into our own hands again."

The Servants all nod back at me.

"Alright then, again, good work to all of you for today. I'll set up some sensors so that our perimeter's secure, so you all get some rest for tonight," I say to dismiss my Servants.

"While you're doing that, I'll go get our supper ready. Who wants some authentic Briton cuisine?" Boudica calls out.

"British cuisine? Yeeeckkkkkk, no thank you," Jalter pretends to gag. "I'll stick to burnt toast and mayonnaise, thanks."

"It's Britannic cuisine, not _BRITISH!_ Don't use your meta knowledge here!" Boudica cries out. "And besides, British cuisine can be good too if it's prepared well!"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure..."

"Fine, then don't come runnin' to me when you're hungry and it's the middle of the night! I know a thing or two about dealing with Avengers!"

Boudica pretends to stomp away back to camp, and we can tell she's just pretending because of her exaggerated movements trying to feign annoyance with Jalter. Martha and Marie trot after her to help out, and Spartacus has already shambled off towards what appears to be a training field of sorts, presumably to continue training, leaving me with Liz, Jalter, Tamamo, and Kiyo.

"I'm surprised she _hasn't_ been summoned as an Avenger like me," Jalter grumbles, once Boudica's out of earshot. "Boudica, the Queen of Britannia during this era, who suffered having her country invaded and her family torn apart at the hands of the Romans, yet she's been summoned to help defend her own invaders from another group of invaders? Tough luck; I'm not sure if I could put up with a situation like that if I were her."


	71. Fox Ears

Slowly opening my eyes from a long and relatively peaceful sleep, with the exception of sandy winds howling in my ears still somewhat, I shift slowly on the rough blanket on the uneven ground inside our small tent that's been provided to us by Boudica, so as not to wake up the equally peacefully slumbering Tamamo next to me; her fox ears slowly twitch up and down like antennae waving in the wind, of which none exists for now on this still night. It's thanks to her and her talisman that she's planted underneath our shared blanket that we've enjoyed a warm sleep that's been able to easily repel the nighttime cold - not that I needed either anyway, but I appreciate Tamamo's efforts nonetheless too much to deny them outright. So for that, I want to let her sleep in a least a little bit longer than she usually does before she reassumes her responsibilities of making sure that her Master is well cared for. I do sometimes think that she takes her self-appointed role a bit too seriously at times, just speaking as someone who prefers being laid-back about things that don't demand immediate or vigilant care.

I step outside of my tent; it's just an ordinary tent, nothing special about it. If there were to be an enemy raid that somehow we didn't detect in time, the enemies, at least the regular United Empire soldiers, wouldn't know which one to go for to attack our camp's commanders or VIP's. Just a small detail that probably doesn't deserve mention since I have a good number of my Servants stationed here with me waiting for Nero's troops to arrive, which should be soon, but I'm a stickler for detail. Sometimes.

It's still pitch dark out, save for the torches that are lit around the camp like primitive streetlights. I stray a little bit from my tent to gaze up at the moon, which is in full view tonight. Some of my "business" trips back home take me to isolated places where light pollution won't block the stars, as is the norm for my hometown where the light pollution from Los Angeles wipes the night sky blank of anything except the occasional nighttime flights, a few of the closer stars, and other local streetlights. So the sight of stars filling the night sky on a clear night like this is nothing short of dazzling.

Unlike the sight of a bleary, empty tinge of piss orange and smoldering yellow that shits all over your fucking eyes as far as they can see.

I enjoy another brief, fleeting moment of stargazing quietly before I sense one of the major mana signatures near me start moving and approaching me. By its fiery and bitter sensation, I can tell it's Jalter; out of everyone's mana signatures with the obvious exception of Tamamo's, Jalter's is by far the easiest for me to identify. I pretend not to give her any notice as she walks up from behind on my right, but I'm sure that she knows that I'm aware of her entrance.

"Fancy meeting you out here. What, can't sleep? Too scared to sleep quietly outside the house?" Jalter snickers under her breath to keep quiet.

"I mean, there was a point in my life when I was scared living _in_ that house," I retort calmly. "But good evening to you either way."

Jalter doesn't reciprocate my greeting.

"The enemies we're facing aren't strong at all. Why do we have to just sit back waiting for that Roman emperor to drag her ass over here?" she grumbles. "And if it's the enemy Servants you're worried about, if their Servants are anything like the one that fought the emperor girl, who cares? We'll burn 'em all alive."

"The fact that I'm hearing that from you is what worries me, though," I turn to face Jalter to pay her proper attention.

"Huuuuh?" Jalter throws me a look of incredulous disgust, like she can't believe what I'm saying. "What's _that_ supposed to mean? Listen, just because you beat me once before and you're my Master now doesn't mean I'll let a dirty fucking human like you talk trash to me, understand?"

"I'm not talking trash to you, unless you equate trash to truth, but I guess it's natural for humans to do think so," I roll my eyes a little. "By this point we know that you're not an actual Alter of Jeanne d'Arc like you thought you were. So by that virtue, you're the newest Servant that I have, and that's not good for you, when you take into account that in this world, the older you are, the better, generally speaking."

"I don't care for age. And it doesn't matter if I wasn't what I thought I was, okay? I can still fuck up any Servant just as well as any other, _non_ , in fact, even more than any other! I was the antagonist of the previous Singularity for a reason, don't you forget that!" Jalter gripes angrily, but at my gesture for her to keep her voice down, surprisingly, she complies with that.

"I'm not forgetting that, and I'm not necessarily doubting your strength, because you're obviously strong and saying otherwise would be incorrect. But the question that I think is the most important to us right now is knowing how strong their Servants are relative to ours. If it turns out that their Servants are just pushovers, then sure, I'd have no problem with hunting down the United Empire's headquarters or capital city if they have one and torch it for the Grail and get back home as soon as possible. But obviously it's just not that braindead easy."

Jalter clicks her tongue rather loudly. "Why should you care about worrying about us Servants? I'd understand if this were a normal Holy Grail War and that having to work with your Servant carefully is natural, but this isn't that. You have twenty whole Servants with you; you can send them out to do whatever you want and they'd do it, even if it cost them their lives because you know and they know that you'll just get more like you've been doing."

I roll my eyes again. "Ah c'mon, don't say that. You know that I'm not the type of person to do that, and I believe I've already explained why."

"Then you sure haven't told me."

"Fine, I guess. No point in me giving you the whole 'oh because I don't wanna get anyone killed' argument, so I'll give you this instead: I'm a businessman, and this too you should know already since you've seen me at work back at home. You Servants are my assets, my most valuable assets. I'm not just gonna sacrifice assets that I don't know I can replace. Yes, it's true that each Singularity so far we've been able to gain more and more Servants, which is great, but I don't know that for sure, I don't have the damn Clairvoyance skill. And also, why would I _want_ to sacrifice Servants when I can just be greedy like a good businessman and hoard up Servants? The more Servants, the more things we can do, the bigger enemies we can fight more effectively, the list goes on. I'm not sure why you're telling me to just send out Servants and steamroll the enemy base or whatever, you're not _that_ stupid."

I pause.

"Hmm, but I will say trying to destroy your own country using dragons is a bit stupid," I correct myself quickly.

A near-silent draw is followed swiftly by a sharp smack of burning steel against flesh - Jalter has just drawn La Pucelle and thrust it at my neck, but my reflexes are faster, allowing my right hand to tightly grasp the midsection of the cursed sword that sizzles hatefully against my skin.

 _"Ta gueule,"_ Jalter hisses, her sword hand shaking as she stiffly holds the sword in place, even though she's not actually applying any pressure. "What happened in that Singularity, what I decided to do there is _my_ responsibility, and I won't have you speaking to me about it."

"Good. Glad to hear it," I say simply, dropping the sword and watching Jalter slowly resheathe her sword silently, still looking pretty bitter over the last little segment of our conversation. Shaking my sizzling hand a bit to cool it off, I continue where I left off: "But I do stand by my statement of taking things slowly until we have intel. And I also want to respect Nero's intentions here; this is her empire, after all, strictly speaking we need to consider ourselves as guests. I would expect the same of people who enter my territory back home, after all. So whatever Nero wants to do and she insists on it whenever she doesn't leave things to me to handle, we'll respect it."

"Tch. Can you really expect her to have sound judgment?" Jalter scoffs. I would love to retort immediately again by pointing out her dumb idea to destroy France by spawning dragons, but she would probably try to kill me outright this time. "She's got migraines apparently that don't let her think properly and she's an egotistical maniac; no wonder a Singularity spawned in her era."

"Pretty sure that's not why it showed up here, but whatever. Even so, Nero can and will be serious about anything when it comes to defending her empire, and she's shown it before and she's showing it now. And even when she does do things that probably aren't advisable, we're here to help make sure those don't go quite as badly."

"Funny, I didn't realize we became a clean-up crew."

"To be honest, if you really think about it, that's what we are, janitors." I smirk a little at my own joke. "We clean up shit known as Singularities so that humanity doesn't have to know that someone shit in the bathroom known as history."

"Okay, I didn't ask for a vivid job description for this kind of thing..."

"You were the one who brought it up."

"Oh, fuck off."

"Best part is, I hired you instantly. You're overqualified for the job, if I might be so honest."

"I'm gonna fucking burn you if you don't shut up!"

"Please don't, you'll set off the whole camp, and Spartacus's gonna come over and toss your ass back over to the road up to the north."

"Ugh..." The look on Jalter's face is one of very reluctant agreement, since she's dealt with Spartacus earlier yesterday in the evening, and it was quality entertainment watching the two of them trying to communicate. How or why they even started talking, I don't think I'll find out for the rest of my life, and I don't think I'd want to.

"Then I'm gonna assume that all this just now was an attempt to get me to send you out so that you can go burn more stuff," I venture to guess, even though it's not really a guess.

"Oh, so you aren't as dense as I thought you were, bravo," Jalter dryly claps. "I don't mind if you send me out alone, to be honest. I just _really_ wanna kill stuff. Burn stuff, doesn't matter. I'm an Avenger, after all. If I don't go do Avenger stuff, what's the point of me even being here."

"You'll get your action. Besides, you're doing a good job so far keeping yourself in check - I thought you'd've gone batshit insane earlier, and that we'd have to detain you manually."

Jalter scowls at me again. "When you'd beat me back in France, I joined you thinking that by making a contract with you, you'd enable me to get even stronger. That totally didn't happen!"

"What, is it because of the whole 'my mana feels weird' argument that Tamamo and the others've been gossipin' about?"

"That's one of the reasons, but the other one's because - God, you're too _levelheaded!"_ Jalter spits angrily, clearly frustrated. "Why do Masters have to influence their Servants through their contracts? This is bullshit...!"

"Kiyohime and Tamamo said the same thing earlier yesterday after we took out an enemy scout team running away from Boudica's detachment," I remark, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. "Both of them said that Kiyo is a lot easier to manage because of the contract I have with her. So I guess it influences everyone, then."

"Thanks to you, not once have I been able to feel like I'm enjoying killing! If I can't enjoy that, how the hell am I still an Avenger?!" Jalter hisses emphatically.

"I'm not sure if I quite follow how you make the connection between me being levelheaded and you enjoying murder..."

"Because - because normally I feel like it shouldn't matter who my Master is, I should be able to fight and live and die like an Avenger. But for some reason, you are! Are you a saint or something? Are you sure you're not actually a Ruler Servant in disguise like Jeanne?"

I laugh dryly. "Unfortunately I'm pretty far from a saint, and I'm the wrong side of Christianity for that."

"Then how? How is it that just through our contract alone, through your contracts alone you're able to make me hold back? And you mentioned that Kiyohime girl, too - everyone knows that normally she's supposed to be sick in the head because of her whole legend and all that. And yet she's never done anything Berserker-like!"

"How should I know? I just stay calm and think things through logically and not let anything tilt me. You saw it yourself when you hit me with your Noble Phantasm."

Jalter snarls at me again. "Salter's right about you," she tussles her hair in frustration.

"Right about...what?"

"That you're a weird human," Jalter retorts in kind. "Not just a weird Master, but just a weird _human._ You have a huge mana supply that feels so painfully ordinary, your influence in Servant-Master contracts is so strong it even changes behavior of Servants like me and Kiyohime..."

"Are you maybe scared of the possibility that I'm up to no good?" I chuckle calmly. "That's rich, coming from a Servant whose alignment is Chaotic Evil."

"Not scared, why would I be scared of you? You're just - weird. And I want to know why. And I'm not the only one who feels that way. Sooner or later you'll spill your secrets," Jalter finally cracks a wicked smile, the first one of the night.

"Then good luck with that, I guess. I'll tell you right now that I'm not your enemy and don't plan to be," I sigh.

"So you _do_ admit it!" Jalter looks quite triumphant with this little victory of hers.

"Did I, though? All I'm telling you is that I'm not your enemy, and good luck. I've said nothing else. If you think I've admitted anything, that's just you convincing yourself that I did. For all you know, I could be lying to you through my teeth. You know how I like teasing Tamamo, right? Maybe I'm doing the same to you."

"You're not doing _shit_ , asshole. The longer you keep this up, the more of us'll catch on that you're probably up to something. Just you wait! Just you wait..."

And with that, Jalter stomps away, probably to lurk and smolder elsewhere in another part of camp. I watch her stomp away, rubbing my hands together and lighting my hands on fire to warm myself up, since the relative coolness of the night is causing my body to centralize my body heat and thus leave my hands a bit cold.

"Ara, it seems you've had a nice little chat with Miss Avenger."

I glance to my right to find Tamamo, who appears to have been eavesdropping on us for a good bit; for long though I'm not sure. She approaches me and slowly embraces me from my right side, and with her hug comes an immediate but very comfortable surge of warmth as she burns a tiny portion of her own mana as fuel for this luxurious warmth. Rather than asking her how much of our conversation she's heard, I go with another question:

"Tamamo, are you of the same opinion as Jalter in that I'm gonna get 'found out'?" I ask her quietly.

"Well, first of all, I'm not sure what she was even trying to say," Tamamo frowns, puzzled as she tries to make heads or tails out of Jalter's words from earlier. "I get the feeling that she just loves to be a contrarian. Maybe that's part of her nature as an Avenger? I wouldn't know about that, though."

"Hmm. She _is_ kinda weird, but given how she's been calling me weird too, I guess it goes both ways."

Tamamo's breathing is audible and generous; due to the difference in our heights, she only stands up to about my shoulders, and that's with those platform shoes that she wears.

"Jalter isn't wrong. I can't deny that there are a few things about you that strike us Servants as odd," Tamamo murmurs. "But...even from this short time that I've spent with you, Master, I am also of the belief that your intentions are, at the very least, benign. And to that end, I will protect you against all else if need be."

"Is it alright if I ask you how you came to that conclusion?"

"Mikon, of course ~ " Tamamo smiles up at me radiantly; truly she is quite the avatar of the sun. "I came to this side of the conclusion because I've spent more time in intimacy with you, Master. You notice that for most of the time ever since you summoned me, you have not gone without me somewhere nearby. So naturally, I'm able to get a good sense for your thoughts and intentions, or at least a much better understanding of it than anyone else. Although I might have raised a few similar concerns myself before, in the end I still believe that you are a good Master."

As thanks for her faith in me, I turn slightly and start rubbing and stroking her fox ears, which Tamamo giggles softly at, enjoying the sensation.

"Do you know if the others have strong opinions about this? I'm not sure if you know yourself, I'm just asking in case you might know..." I ask.

"Several of the Servants do. Myself, Jalter as you just saw, Salter, Kiyohime..." Tamamo lists. "I don't think Matthew knows...and as for the others, I'm not sure. Are you worried that this might become a potential issue?"

"Somewhat. We'll see what comes of it; for now, I'll leave it alone, but in case it becomes like a forefront issue with the Servants, I'll deal with it then."


	72. Panis Militaris

"Soldiers of the Gaelic Expedition, I thank you for your efforts for me, my subjects, and my Rome!"

With what rudimentary Latin I still remember from my high school days, I try my best to follow along Nero's speech that she delivers, naturally, in Latin to her troops stationed here at Massilia. Boudica, Tamamo, Jalter, Marie, and I are looking on from afar, hanging out in the grove of trees near where Nero has gathered her troops to boost their morale with a seemingly charismatic speech.

"It's been two days since you got here, and Emperor Nero came here already? Wasn't she supposed to take almost a month moving her troops here from Rome? The capital's not exactly nearby..." Boudica asks curiously.

"Yeah, admittedly that was a bad mistake on my part; I should've just suggested to transport Nero here with us from the start," I sigh, scratching my head. "I guess I let that slip when I was busy managing Servant scout routes and whatnot..."

"Huh, so you _can_ make mistakes. Color me surprised," Jalter scoffs.

"Hey, Master was very busy with his responsibilities, he doesn't need you laughing at something he couldn't help, Miss Avenger," Tamamo snarls lightly over at Jalter.

"Psh, excuses, excuses. And don't be making any for him either, Caster."

"They aren't _excuses_ , they're the _truth!"_ Tamamo pouts, crossing her arms tightly. "But I guess I shouldn't expect a faker like _you_ to know what the concept of _truth_ is, should I?"

"I'll get my taste of truth once I find out how burned fox _really_ smells like," Jalter smiles deviously back, threatening to draw her corrupted La Pucelle.

"Mkay, settle down, you two. You have enough catfights with Salter as it is already," I sternly reprimand my Avenger.

"Oh come on, you just _had_ to bring _that_ bitch up?"

"In any case, so that's why you had Tamamo fly out last night," Boudica reasons.

"Right. Because Nero's a Servant like the rest of you, I was stuck thinking she'd get here in just a few days like the rest of us, but then I realized she's still leading her troops here."

"Then what about them? The troops Nero was leading here? Can they find their way here just fine?"

"Nero said they should be fine, she's left some commanding officers who've made the march here from Rome a few times before in charge of her army, and they still have some Servants we left with Nero when they first set out to escort them. Either way, we need the troops to strengthen the garrison we have here anyway, since this probably will be a hotly contested front if the war against the UE escalates."

"Speaking of the United Empire, we haven't seen much activity from them, at least not since you arrived, Master," Marie points out with concern. "Our scouts haven't been able to report anything, not even the other Servants..."

"Which means they're probably planning something big, right?" Boudica asks.

I nod in agreement. "I'd be shocked if they didn't realize that we've got our Servants flying all over their territory scouting them out, so I'll givve them the benefit of the doubt and say that they're aware of our scout actions in their lands. So the fact that they aren't doing anything about it, or just anything in general, leads me to believe that what they're planning doesn't concern the front lines here in the mainland."

"So they really might be trying for a diversionary tactic? But the only such tactics they could use are..." Tamamo begins, and I finish for her.

"A naval strategy, or an Iberian invasion."

"Trying to invade North Africa? But Rome itself hardly has a navy to begin with. How can the United Empire come up with such a tactic, barring a successful invasion through Iberia, if they have no lands that give them access to the sea? At least none that we know off," Boudica points out.

"Not North Africa," I correct her. "When I say 'naval strategy' I'm referring to the possibility that they might build a small navy of mainly transport ships to invade coastal cities and conquer coastal lands with."

"But that'd mean they'd need to send an army through our territories, find a suitable construction site for their navy, build the navy, and then still have enough troops to use that navy. Now that you have your Servants on scout missions across the front lines, I doubt they could send any army through without us knowing."

I raise my finger matter-of-factly. "You're right, but relative to the complete timeline of this war, I've only recently deployed the Servants on scout duty. That means that any independently operating United Empire force still within our side off the border might have still been able to go undetected. And I ordered the Servants to mainly scout enemy territory, not necessarily our own, so there's a chance that they might've missed one such army."

Then, Marie claps her hands together in shocked relevation. "Monsieur Caligula's troops! He could still be within Rome's territory!" she exclaims quietly, trying to keep her rather excited voice down.

"Right. I'm not sure how Caligula's troops would get the UE's message, but maybe the United Empire could be operating solely through Caligula's forces."

While we're talking amongst ourselves, the Roman troops listening to Nero's rally give one last mighty cheer before dispersing slowly, and soon enough, Nero, with slight but noticeable bags of weariness under her eyes from the overnight travel, joins us discretely, rubbing her eyes while doing so.

"By the Gods, I certainly do require some rest..." Nero can't stop herself from letting out a big ol' yawn. "Caster, I must borrow your tent for the day, I've been told that my tent hadn't been prepared yet since they didn't expect me to arrive so soon..."

As Tamamo starts rubbing Nero's shoulders to help her relax, I ask the Emperor,

"Nero, before Tamamo picked you up, did you run into any enemy troops along the way?"

"E-Enemy troops? _Non_ , we did not engage any enemy forces during our march. If we did, I am sure that one of us among me, Jeanne d'Arc, and Lily would have notified you immediately of our status."

"Hm, so the fact that they haven't reported anything means they haven't been attacked yet..."

"Why does this concern you so, Master? Were you worried that we would be ambushed, after having spread your Servants across my Empire?"

"Not necessarily that, but I'm trying to maybe account for a possible naval strategy that the United Empire could be trying to employ. I'm hypothesizing that they could be using the wandering forces commanded by Caligula as their primary army, and that somehow they've given them orders to reach the coast to build themselves a navy with which they could use to raid towns and cities along the Roman peninsula."

"I'm telling you, you're outta your goddamn mind if you think they can just sneak a whole fucking _army_ through our side of the peninsula and then build a fucking navy right under our noses. That's such a dumb plan, who would ever do that?" Jalter rolls her eyes dramatically.

I'm tempted to tell Jalter all about the Maginot Line, but I think I'll save that for another day.

"Well, I'm not sure if this has too much to do with what you are thinking of, but on our march up the coast, we did encounter a few farmers and travelers who spoke of a rumor that allegedly claims that an ancient god of some sort had descended nearby on an island out at sea..." Nero yawns again, mumbling out her words. "And here I was thinking that Servants don't get exhausted as easily as humans do...it must be my migraines..."

I turn to Jalter with a wry smile. "That's why, I guess."

"Hey, fuck you! That totally sounds like just a rumor, okay? Besides, Nero could be talking outta her ass right now because she's tired! Actually, how _does_ a Servant even _get_ tired..."

"But this is a Singularity, and most certainly not a regular Holy Grail War. If there are rumors about some sort of ancient god, perhaps that is what the United Empire is going after?" Marie suggests.

"So far that's our only lead that could explain why the United Empire hasn't been doing much. I think we ought to investigate it," I nod.

"Then count me out; I've done enough scouting stuff for the rest of this damn Singularity," Jalter groans. "I'd rather just walk out there and start burning the countryside down."

"But you're from the countryside, though?"

"Oh shut up."

"Jokes aside, I do want you to head out on a forward mission."

"Oh shit, no really? Fucking finally, I thought we'd be sittin' here for a damn week or even a whole month just to wait for Nero's reinforcements to get their asses here..."

"Well, no, obviously we're not gonna be waiting around for that long. But at the same time, the number of troops we have here can't really enable an aggressive campaign on Nero's empire's part. So we have to take it upon ourselves to coordinate an assault; if the United Empire insist on doing nothing, then we'll take advantage of it."

"So how's that going to work, Master? Will you recall your other Servants here and use Massilia as a staging point?" Boudica asks.

"Yeah, I think our first objective is to secure Gaul, or at least the parts of it that Roman controlled before the United Empire showed up. Once we kick out UE forces from Gaul and occupy it, I'm guessing that'll prompt the UE back into action, and then we can expect some actual war stuff goin' on between us. Meanwhile, though, I want Tamamo and Kiyohime to scout out the Mediterranean for the location of this 'ancient god'. My guess is that whoever it is, it's also another Servant, so if we can convince them to join us before the UE get to them, we'll deny the UE of a potentially powerful Servant."

"But gods and Divine Spirits can't be summoned as Servants, though," Tamamo informs me quickly, and when I give her a murky look, she stammers back, "L-Look, I'm not an actual god or a Divine Spirit, I'm just an _avatar_ of one, there's a difference, Master, I swear!"

So I just switch to a nonchalant shrug instead.

"Then I'll just call not-actually-a-proper-Holy-Grail-War shenanigans and say that an actual Divine Spirit's been materialized as a Servant somehow."

"You _really_ want things to be your way, huh," Jalter glares at me a little. "God, I hate people like that, you know?"

"Then it seems the two of us have a lot more in common than we thought," I remark simply. "But hey, I'm your Master and you're my Servant, so there's that."

"I _know that_ , you fuck! Don't have to fucking _point it out_ to me, I'm not stupid, thanks!" And with that, Jalter, having decided that she's had enough of my shit, storms away fuming back to her tent.

"My, my...so that's what an Avenger behaves like? I'm quite glad I got summoned as just a good ol' Rider," Boudica sighs with relief. "Anyways, how would you like to organize our campaign to take back Gaul, Master?"

"I actually wanna wait off on that for a bit so that Nero can sleep off her migraines," I stop Boudica, gesturing to Nero who's being escorted away by Tamamo to her tent so that the Roman Emperor-Servant can get some much-needed beauty sleep. "Once she's feeling better, we'll get together and discuss offensive tactics. In the meantime, I'll have to recall some of our Servants..."

* * *

"Master!"

A familiar voice calls out to me as I'm hard at work milling bread; it's evening, and Boudica, Martha, Marie, and Da Vinci, who's joined us earlier after I'd sent out word to most of the other Servants to join us at Massilia to participate in our upcoming campaign of Gaul, are preparing supper for the Roman troop. More specifically, since Roman troops are trained to be able to grind their own flour and bake their own bread within their own units, we're helping to supply them with a bit more food - Roman troops' diets are usually influenced by where they're stationed, and in the case of Boudica's army garrisoned near Massilia, a moderately sized farming town, they've been able to supply us with meat from their cattle and sheep herds, so the ladies are making stews out of some of it in pots given to us by the troops. For my part, after the meeting I held with the Servants in regards to our actions for the next few days, I've been working on constantly baking bread for the past few hours by using a hand-mill that I've borrowed from one of the soldiers and using one of his own breads that he'd baked two days ago as a visual example so that I know how my own breads ought to look like when they're done.

"Hullo. Finally made it, huh?" I greet Matthew, who's hurrying over to me with Jeanne, Lily, Sanson, Mozart, and St. George.

"Yes, we hurried as fast as we could over here. Are you baking bread, Master?" Matthew asks curiously, seeing that I'm hard at work grinding flour in my little hand-mill.

"Yep. Just wanted to help out, so I learned how to bake bread Roman-style yesterday, so here I am," I grunt, taking my time milling the wheat so that it gets ground into a fine flour.

"He's gotten really good at it, too! I had some of the soldiers I'd given his bread out to ask me who made it so that they could go bug them to keep making more," Boudica laughs from nearby. "I would've told them that Master made it, but he insisted that he remain anonymous!"

"It's better that they think of the bread as gifts from the town itself. Otherwise, they'd be disappointed to know that I can't be their baker for longer than this," I chuckle back while reaching down to the small pile of breads that I've baked for today, which are being kept warm and fresh by a small rune that I've put under them that's acting like a small heating pad. "Wanna try one, Matthew? I'm not sure how good you'll find them, though."

I hand Matthew one of my breads; it's one I've made with onions and a little bit of pepper, and I haven't given it a proper taste test yet to know how good they are. And I don't count the Roman soldiers saying my breads are good since their tastes may vastly differ to ours.

"Mmm - ! It's...it's a bit weird eating it, but - but it's good! It's got just the right level of crunchiness on the outside, and it's nice and soft and tasty on the inside..." Matthew smiles widely. "And it's got onion and pepper in it...geez, Master, what _can't_ you cook?"

"Hey, for your information, before we got here I didn't know how to make this style of bread," I defend myself matter-of-factly. "I learned how to do this because I wanted to help out around the camp here while we waited to see what the United Empire would do after seeing us scout out their territories for the past two days. It's taken a lot of trial and error to get it to this point, I didn't just sit my butt down and bam, I'm just a natural genius at it."

"Did someone say natural genius?" Da Vinci peeps out, leaning over from her own cooking pot with a wooden ladle at her lips as she's taste-testing her own stew. "If you need a natural genius, Leonardo da Vinci's your man! Uh, I mean, woman! Tee-hee ~ "

"No, I didn't call for you, DV," I laugh a bit back. "But anyways. Hello there, the rest of you; help yourselves to some bread and ask the others for some stew if you're in the mood to eat."

"Oh, my - _merci beacoup_ , Master!" Jeanne wholeheartedly accepts the warm bread I hand the rest of the Servants following up behind Mash; Jeanne's sweet and wholesome Christian voice washes away the filth that is Jalter's toilet of a mouth that I've had to put up with for the past two days without her sister.

"To think that you would provide sustenance for us Servants yourself, even in the middle of a Singularity..." George chuckles awkwardly as he accepts his bread, "truly, we have been blessed with a Master who understands what it means to serve."

Lily hasn't said anything yet for her part, but it's because she's already stuffing herself with her bread, as she likely hasn't actually eaten anything for the past two days; her face is a canvas of pure and utter joy and relief of being able to taste actual food again for the first time in what must surely feel like ages for her.

"Master, can you taste this for me and see what else I should add?" Marie beckons over to me, so I set down the hand-mill and make my way over to Marie's cooking pot. I reach for her wooden ladle, but Marie quickly snatches it away before I can grab it and, with a teasing smile, scoops up a bit of the stew and offers it to me, so I lean in and take a sip.

"I think it needs a bit more salt. Like, just a small pinch." I indicate the amount manually with my right hand. "Other than that, I think it's fine. Did you know how to cook before?"

" _Non!_ Mademoiselle Boudica mainly taught me. I think she is a great teacher!"

"Awww, you shouldn't," Boudica laughs, joining in with us and starting to hug Marie and rocking her back and forth. "Marie's a great student herself, I hardly helped her with this one and she's already got the hang of it. Lemme tell ya, the morale here's skyrocketed ever since you all started pitching in on making food. There's even a wait list that the soldiers made requesting food made specifically by someone."

"Th-There _was_ such a list?! But I'd never seen it..." Martha exclaims, as this comes as a genuine surprise to her.

"Well, I had to take it away, since the men were starting to get into legitimate fights over who'd get whose food, so..."

"Oh no, I don't want anyone to fight, that's just silly..." Marie moans, looking quite concerned.

"Right, so that's why I had to ban the wait lists. I told the men that if they wanted to fight over whose food they'd be getting, they could march out to United Empire territory and fight with each other there so that everyone else who were civil about it could get to eat the food all by themselves without them. That shut 'em up really quick."

As the Servants chat and enjoy some food, Matthew taps me on the shoulder lightly.

"Master, I don't see Tamamo or Kiyohime anywhere, did they go somewhere?" she asks, munching on some more warm bread.

"I sent them to the southwest to investigate these rumors about an ancient god showing up somewhere; they'll report back if they find anything."

"An ancient god...? But...but Divine Spirits and the like can't be summoned as Servants ordinarily..."

"That's what I've been told, but I still want to investigate it. Why, did you notice that those two weren't on cooking duty?"

Matthew nods quickly but abashedly. "I-I figured they would be helping out, so I was surprised to not see them here..."

"Don't worry, they'll make plenty of food for us once we get back home after this Singularity's done." Matthew continues to chew on her bread. "By the way, how did you make it so that this bread has such a good crunchiness to it, Master? You don't have an oven proper, and the only thing you have is the small hearth there where you can place the bread and then put a cover over it to have it bake..."

"The heat rune I have here. Originally I meant it to keep the bread warm, but it seems like the magic from it's been adding its own little flavor to it too."

Matthew breaks off a piece of bread and offers it to me, and I eat it from her fingers.

"Thankfully Tamamo isn't here to've seen that, otherwise she'd go ballistic," I remark, causing Matthew to giggle shyly.


	73. Time Distortion

"Master! Master, get up, the United Empire is starting to inv - "

Before Natthew can even finish her sentence, I bolt up from the blanket that I'm sleeping on on the ground, both handguns drawn before my vision itself even focuses enough to the point where I can shoot accurately. But my hearing, focusing faster than my groggy eyesight, tells me that there's no fighting within our camp outside Massilia itself, which is what I initially was fearing.

"Where's Nero? We'll have to come up with something quick," I grunt solemnly over at Matthew, who's already got her cross-shield deployed, which is also part of the reason why I'd thought our own camp was being directly attacked at the moment.

"At her tent in the center; she sent me here to fetch you."

Nodding, I quickly head out of my small little tent along the outskirts of camp to follow after Matthew to hurry inwards to where the rest of the Servants are gathering, dodging Roman soldiers hurrying about at the same time to prepare for their inevitable deployments. Soon enough we find everyone, with Nero peering over a map that several legionnaires are holding up for her convenience.

"And here he comes, my trusted advisor!" Nero booms grandly - I expect no less from a Roman emperor. "Come, make haste - your Servants have given us a plethora of warnings about a massive offensive being launched at us by the United Empire, and we have quite the limited amount of time to act!"

"What's the situation?" I ask, stepping up to Nero's side to survey the map.

"Do you have the map that you have made?"

"Do you prefer that one?"

"Yes, it is by far the most accurate map I have ever laid my eyes upon. I demand that you show me that map of yours at once for our strategizing."

Nero beckons to the soldiers to remove the map they've been holding out for her, which they do to make room for me to cast the rune map I've been working on over the past few days using the map knowledge our scouting Servants have been relaying back.

"According to the other Servants, the United Empire is moving out in three major armies, with smaller auxiliary armies marching in between them," Nero explains, using her fingers to draw movement lines to denote enemy troop movement. We've been discussing possible counteroffensives of our own for the past few nights in case the United Empire decided to keep sitting around and continue doing nothing, so Nero knows how to use my map runes now. It's basically a glorified whiteboard that doesn't need any markers, since you can just use your own fingers as markers. "Two of the armies are marching directly south towards Rome, while the third army appears to be headed for our location here in Massilia. I suspect that they intend to wrest control of Gaul away once and for all, if the reports of the armies' sizes are to be believed."

"And there's a lot of troops in between them? And we don't really know where exactly they're headed..."

"Indeed. To tell the truth, even before you and your Servants made your appearances, I knew that the United Empire would outnumber us very badly. So looking at this situation now, I cannot place troops in enough strategic locations to stop the entirety of their advance, for some of them will inevitably slip through the cracks and be able to surround our troops if I do not reposition them quickly enough."

"So that's why you never tried crossing over the Tiber?"

Nero nods, crossing her arms seriously. "The only reason why I agreed to moving out like this to Massilia is because you arrived to reinforce us with your Servants. With the number of troops at my disposal, moving out past the Tiber would have been impossible."

"Then you would've left Massilia to fall?"

"I-It couldn't be helped in that case! Because if I decided to march here from Rome without your assistance, the United Empire would have done what they are doing now, you see? Sending armies down to Rome to capture it once and for all the moment they know that I myself am not there at the city to defend it. Such cowards, not sending armies to face me directly!"

"Well, they did send one."

"But there are still two others! Why not send me those two? Do they think of me as an unworthy opponent? I'd challenge them to say that directly to my Aestus Estus!" Nero pouts angrily and even summons her signature red curved blade for added emphasis, whose reddened tip sinks easily into the dirt beneath her feet.

"Then would you like to fight those two armies personally?" I offer, and this immediately catches her attention.

"What do you have in mind, Praetor?" she asks interestedly.

"Because we have two armies headed down for Rome, we'll need to match that with a corresponding number of Servants," I start explaining, using the map help me explain. "You'll lead the majority of the Servants we have against these two armies here - " I point to where the modern-day city of Perugia - "and stop them there. Have the reserve troops stationed back at Rome and around Rome to move up to roughly this location and use this lake to force their armies to split. That way, our Servants will have an easier time attacking groups of enemies at once. Whichever Servant isn't directly engaging enemies on the front lines with you, they'll guard your flanks so that they can't surround you and the rest of your army. As for the army headed here, consolidate all the troops you have in this region here and make this camp their base camp. If they want to take control of Gaul, they'll have to fight us here and take Massilia, since they can't afford to let any Roman presence be for them to completely control Gaul. That means that the enemy troops marching in between the armies heading southwest have to make a choice between marching down south to join up with the bigger army or marching north to join the smaller one, since this area used to be theirs to begin with before we came."

The map is filled with blue movement arrows and circles and other miscellaneous symbols that I've made as I've been explaining, and Nero nods at all of them thoughtfully.

"Excellently planned, Praetor! We shall go with this, umu!" Nero nods confidently, tightening her grip on Aestus Estus's handle in anticipation. "Then there is not a moment to lose. First, we must send word to Rome that the troops there must march forth to the lake to make their stand..."

"We can do that easily by having one of the Servants on scout duty north of Rome to go down to the city and alert the officials, but I think it'd be best if you made it down there yourself, since I don't know how likely it'll be that one of our Servants can relay instructions about moving the whole army there forward."

"Mmm, that is a good point. Then I shall fly down there myself, but I require assistance in this."

"Jalter," I call over quickly, getting her attention when she's been filing her nails against the side of her flagpole with supreme boredom.

"Me? What the hell do you want?" she drawls with annoyance.

"A wyvern. Nero'll need it to fly back down to Rome. What's the fastest wyvern you got?"

"Fastest...? That depends on how much mana I use to summon them..."

"Then give it your best shot."

"Why, though? She can deal with having a normal one..."

"Not good enough, then. Who else can we ask...Martha, how fast is Tarrasque?" I turn to Martha this time, which evidently rustles Jalter's jimmies, who angrily straightens her back at attention to yell back at me.

"W-What do you mean, not good enough? Do you fucking _doubt_ me?" Jalter demands, aggressively stepping towards me while Jeanne, having learned to carefully monitor her new younger sister's outbursts, swiftly locks her arm around Jalter's neck and pulls her inwards to prevent her from getting out of control.

"I don't doubt you, I just don't have the time to deal with people who tell me they're only gonna do a half-assed job," I say simply, hitting her with that slight shrug of matter-of-factness. "We've got three armies headed towards us, two of them for the capital city, and we've probably got like maybe a week's worth of time to get everyone into position to deal with all three. If you're not gonna help me get Nero over to the capital as best you can, I just don't have a use for you at the moment, sorry."

"Okay, okay, _fine!_ I'll actually put some effort into it!" Jalter snarls, violently shaking Jeanne off. "And for fuck's sake, get off! Here, I'll summon a fast wyvern for you..."

While Jalter takes some time to summon a fast wyvern for Nero to take back to Rome, I issue orders to the other Servants standing by in the meantime.

"Marie, you and the others don't mind helping Boudica and Spartacus hold this place down, right?" I ask the French Queen, and she nods enthusiastically as always.

"Of course! Even if this is not the France we know, it will become France in the future. I will do everything I can to defend it," she confirms energetically. "Mozart, Sanson, I expect you two to get along here; now is _not_ the time to have any arguments, okay?"

Sanson simply nods silently while Mozart cracks a wry smile and chuckles to himself, though he stays silent. Given the kinds of comments I've heard him say over the past few days, only to have Marie pop up out of nowhere and punish him for them by pinching his cheeks with impunity, it's probably best for his own sake. Or, more specifically, best for his cheeks' sakes.

"Everyone else, I'll need you all to move with down to Rome, escort them up to the lake, and set up a defensive perimeter around them so that they don't get flanked."

"Should we move out now, Master?" St. George asks.

"Yeah. Nero needs to get to Rome as fast as possible, and you guys need to keep up with her as best you can so that you can rendezvous with her army at the capital city. Jalter, you'll need to make wyverns for everyone else who doesn't have their own mount."

"Oh, come _on_ , you tell me that _now?!"_ Jalter cries out amidst deep breaths and heavy panting, sweating noticeably from her brow. It's clear that she's put a lot of effort into summoning a very powerful wyvern, which now flaps its wings threateningly and lets out a deafening cry. Thankfully we've already let the legionnaires here know that any wyverns they see are friendly and will not harm them, or at least they shouldn't, though obviously that won't stop them from getting spooked by the wyverns Jalter does summon here, as indicated by the reactions of several Roman soldiers nearby. Nero herself is positively gleaming with excitement, though.

"I didn't want you to tire yourself out half to death on just _one wyvern_ ," I frown lightly back at Avenger.

"But you said yourself that you didn't want someone who'd do a half-assed job! So I put some damn effort into this for you, motherfucker! You should be _grateful!"_ Jalter yowls, brandishing her finger at me.

"Aye, yes, thanks. Jalter, escort Nero back at top speed to Rome. As for the rest of you - "

"I'll provide horses for everyone else," Marie offers. "They should be able to last the journey back."

"Thanks, Marie."

"I will have to go my sister. I fear that without you or me to supervise her, she may be prone to going off on her own," Jeanne says worriedly. "I humbly request your permission, Master."

"You don't even need to ask. Take care of her for me," I nod back quickly.

"Thank you."

"Will you two _quit it_ already?!" Jalter howls again in the background.

"What about you, Master? Where will you be in all this?" Martha asks.

"I'll stay here and defend Massilia with everyone here. Most of our scouting Servants are already near Rome, or rather, they're already scouting north of the city anyway, so they can reinforce Nero's army easily, while the scouts in this area, well, you're all already here."

"Then there's not a moment to lose; I'll go organize the troops," Boudica declares before springing into action, leaving us to gather the lieutenants and officers at the camp.

"Make sure not to let Spartacus know, otherwise he'll get excited too early," I call after her, and Boudica waves back in confirmation as she hurries away, barking at whatever lieutenants she sees along the way in Latin to round up the others for an emergency meeting.

"Scout duty again?" Martha smiles reassuringly, placing her hand on her right hip.

"Yeah. Sorry for making you run around everywhere," I apologize quickly.

"Worry not, Master, I had become quite accustomed to travels during my time of life. Besides, Tarrasque loves it as well, and seldom do I have a chance to let him roam around as freely as we have for the past week..."

"Yes, yes, I know that feeling as well! The, um, the being able to travel around part, that is," Marie joins in after briefly speaking to Mozart and Sanson in French. "It has been an absolute joy being able to ride all around, especially knowing that this land is to become France."

"You still need to remember that we are in the middle of war, Marie," Mozart sighs. "The likes of us noblefolk being in the front lines...oh dear."

"It's not as if we haven't been in the front lines, you know! I don't see the point in bringing that up now, unless you're trying to use that an excuse to stay behind and write up more of those toilet humor pieces you love writing in your spare time." Marie turns to pout back up at Mozart.

"I wouldn't necessarily deny that, but all I'm saying is that a mere composer like me has no business dodging arrows and clashing steel with a wooden baton."

"Don't worry, in the event that you get shot, I'll administer aid," Sanson pats Mozart on the back with sarcastic reassurance.

"I'd rather have Marie yell the living daylights out of me while bleeding like a pig than accept your aid," Mozart recoils with disgust. "More than likely you'll administer poison to me to kill me quietly in my sleep seven days later when no one suspects it!"

"Poison? What kinds of poison would I have that could possibly harm Servants?" Sanson smirks quietly.

"Ugh. Poisons aside, I _do_ admit that riding into the front lines with Marie has given me an almost infinite amount of inspiration for a symphony...and I've already run out of the scrolls that I took from Nero's palace back in Rome..." Mozart laments.

As the Frenchmen bicker, I receive an incoming transmission from Tamamo, so I tap the back of my left ear to answer it so that Tamamo's voice can be directly fed into my left ear.

"What's the situation?" I ask.

 _"Master, we've found the rumored goddess on the islands, and she's another Servant like us, but my talismans are seeing a large contingent force of United Empire soldiers led by that one Caligula Servant we met earlier in this Singularity, and they seem to be headed straight for the island!"_

"How far away are they? Are they already on the water?" I'd already anticipated the possibility of an enemy force slipping through the border and managing to reach the coast, which is why I sent Tamamo and Kiyohime to track down the rumored goddess. So I'm more surprised that they've managed to construct transport ships this quickly. But then again, depending on how long ago they reached the coast, and depending on which part of the coast that they're deploying from, maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise after all.

 _"They're already on the water, yes! A small fleet of ships, six vessels in total, are carrying troops towards the islands here. Once Caligula reaches the islands, he'll be able to sense our presence and track us down! And another problem is that Stheno, the goddess we found, refuses to leave the island unless you come here to meet her personally!"_

"Oh, she's one of _those_ goddesses, huh?"

 _"I know, right?! I wanted to throw her into the ocean just listening to her talk - but right now we have a more pressing matter in Caligula and his fleet. What do you want us to do, Master?"_

"Lock down the area and guard Stheno, I'm on my way." I close the comms rune with Tamamo and turn to Martha and Marie, who've been listening to my conversation intently while Mozart and Sanson are still bickering. "Change of plans; you're gonna have to hold the fort by yourselves. Tell Boudica that she's in charge since she knows this area the best; whatever orders she gives, follow them."

Martha and Marie nod. "Will you be alright, Master? How will you even get to the islands by yourself?" Marie asks worriedly.

"I've got my ways, don't worry. I'll try to get back as quickly as possible; the good news is that Tamamo and Kiyo found the goddess that we've been hearing rumors about, and it turns out she's also another Servant."

"A goddess as a Servant...truly this Holy Grail War is the strangest Grail War that has ever occurred," Martha wonders aloud. "But convincing her to join our ranks would be quite the boon to our military might against the United Empire, especially seeing that Nero's armies are outnumbered. Just don't you dare begin worshiping her, Master! I found out earlier before this Singularity that you are in fact a Christian, even if the hints were subtle, so if you come back worshiping a pagan goddess, I'll have to lecture you back into the grace of God!"

Martha says all this while shaking her holy staff at me in my face. Chuckling awkwardly, I reassure Martha that I'm not about to reconsider my religious preferences anytime soon before bidding them good luck to head off for the coast. Massilia itself isn't too far from the coast, so I take off from the camp immediately to reach it, and once I do, I climb the mana slope I create underneath my feet as I'm running to gain some altitude so that I can survey the seas as I make my way over to Sicily, using Tamamo's coordinates that I can track through the communications runes I've given all my Servants to guide my way.

But just running my way over there obviously isn't going to cut it, and I can't rely on any of my Servants since I've already given everyone their orders, which means I'm left to my own devices on reaching Sicily or whichever island Tamamo and Kiyohime are on guarding Stheno.

So I slow my run down to a brisk jog to prepare myself. Taking a few deep breaths, I re-stabilize my mana flow before whispering under my breath,

 _"Time Distortion."_


	74. Boarding Action

The pressure in my ears fades out as I slow back down to a jog, still standing about a half mile above sea level on my hologram platform.

The small United Empire fleet commanded by Caligula is just underneath, and indeed they're very close to the islands where Tamamo and Kiyohime are guarding Stheno. I track their signatures; the fleet shouldn't be in their visual range due to several small cliffs facing them as they approach the islands, but given another half an hour, that could very well change. I'm sure that Caligula can also sense Tamamo and Kiyohime nearby once his fleet gets him close enough, assuming he's on one of the ships himself. I mean, why wouldn't he be.

At this height, I don't need to worry about being spotted by the enemy soldiers down in the fleet, and since I've arrived early enough to have some time before they come within visual range of my Servants further down south, I can deliberate on how best we should engage the enemy fleet.

"Tamamo, Kiyo, I'm here. I've got eyes on the enemy fleet, you should be able to see them rounding the cliffs here to the north in about thirty minutes at this rate," I open communications with Tamamo and Kiyohime to alert them of my arrival.

 _"A-Already!? How did you get here so f- "_ Tamamo starts to cry out in surprise, but I cut her off quickly.

"Never mind that, we need to figure out how to destroy this fleet. Have either of you thought up of something while I was on my way here?"

 _"About that, since you told me to lock down this area, I have defensive talismans ready to fry any ship that comes in range once I see them off the coast here,"_ Tamamo boasts swiftly. _"Kiyo-chan said she'll also help out if need be."_

"So I didn't really need to haul ass over here, is what you're saying?" I ask while raising an eyebrow slowly.

 _"N-No, nonononono, I - I was just trying to tell you how well we've prepared!"_ Tamamo blurts out.

"That so. Well, either way, it's still gonna take half an hour for them to get in range of your talismans, and that's half a hour we could use to haul ass back to the mainland to help everyone else defend against the United Empire's offensive."

 _"So we need to go on the offensive ourselves?"_

"Yeah. I hope that's not asking too much."

 _"Of course not! But remember, Stheno said she'd like to talk to you first, so...maybe coming here to speak to her real quick might be a good idea? It's why you came here, after all."_

I glance down at the fleet. I could easily rain down my magic on them to disable them while also having Tamamo and Kiyohime come in to add heavy artillery that'll sink their ships for good, but since I have faith in Tamamo's defensive matrix, I decide to follow Tamamo's advice.

"A'ight, I'll be there in a sec," I nod, cutting off my comms rune next to my ear as I lurch forward again, this time morphing my rune platform into a rail to ride over the islands over to where Tamamo and the others are waiting for me, and indeed when I land, Tamamo and Kiyohime are awaiting my arrival, along with a third girl behind them on the beach. I notice that Tamamo has an odd look on her face, but Kiyohime approaches me first, with eyes that have the look of a scheming mastermind behind them.

"Welcome back, Master," she smiles at my coyly. "Would you like lunch, a bath, or perhaps..."

Kiyohime seductively lifts the folds of her kimono with her fingertips lightly.

"I just kinda want water, to be perfectly honest," I say dryly, clearing my throat a bit. "Getting here as fast as I did dehydrated me a bit, it feels like..."

Blinking once, Kiyohime slowly glances down at her chest.

"W-Well...if Master insists..." the Berserker smiles, her cheeks blossoming slightly as she tries to reach into the bosom of her kimono, but Tamamo, clearly not liking what she's seeing, firmly grabs Kiyohime's arm and yanks it out.

"Okay, Kiyo-chan, now is _not_ the time, thank you very much!" Tamamo reprimands her. "There's a war going on and you're trying to seduce Master?"

"Oh, you're saying you wouldn't do the same?" Kiyohime retorts, yanking her hand out of Tamamo's grip in kind. "Remind me, who is the one who raids Master's bedroom every night?"

"I have _permission,_ okay!? You don't!"

I leave the two to argue it out a bit for the time being as I turn to the third girl who'd been waiting with them. She's _very_ short - I feel like I'm a giant standing next to her, given that I can't imagine her being more than four and a half feet tall. She wears a pure white dress decorated along the edges with black lace and ribbons, a cloth collar with the same color scheme and materials, and a similarly made headband that rides the top of her pigtailed lavender hair.

"Uh, hi. My name's August, I'm their Master," I point to the bickering Servants over my shoulder without looking. "I presume that you're Stheno, and I was told that you would like to speak to me?"

"That's correct, traveling Master," Stheno nods slowly, with a slight smile that seems permanently etched into her face, as if she were a living, talking statue. The air about her is that of light pressure, akin to her subtly telling you that you're in the presence of divinity. The same can be said of her accented words; the words that she speaks compel me to listen and focus on her and her alone, that if she were to tell me to do something, that I should obey. "At first, when your Servants arrived here to find me, I was disappointed that it was not a human hero who had come to see me. By coming here yourself, you have redeemed yourself, for I was under the impression that you were the kind of hero who simply orders others to do your great deeds for you."

"That doesn't concern me in the slightest, I'm afraid," I reply bluntly, narrowing my eyes just a little. "There's a war going on in the mainland that I've been tasked to lead, so having to come out here on your request means that I'm wasting time not being where I should be. I'm sure my Servants have told you about this war, yes? Or maybe you even knew about it already before they came here to see you?"

"Wasting time? Your words are quite bold, dear Master from a far away time and land," Stheno giggles lightly, but I can sense the malice creeping into her voice; it's immediately obvious to me that my words have touched a nerve with her. "Be thankful that a gentle goddess such as I am capable of understanding that heroes may change over the course of time - not to mention the fact that in your own time and era, meeting goddesses such as I is extremely rare, if at all."

I try my very best not to roll my eyes right in front of her, lest I provoke her into giving me more lectures and thus waste more time.

"In any case, yes, it is as you say; I know about the war going on in the mainland. I also happen to know that there is an enemy fleet inbound on our position; I take it that you have seen it on your way here?" Stheno gets back on track surprisingly quickly, which I at least can appreciate.

"Yeah, I was going to attack it if you didn't insist that I meet with you first."

"Were you? All by yourself? For having such a rude tongue towards me, perhaps you indeed have the power to justify it," Stheno smiles again.

"More specifically, I was going to request my Servants to assist. I'm not sure if I can ask the same of you, though."

"Ah, I see you've noticed that my combat abilities are not quite up to par with what you're used to. I've been told that you lead many other Servants, so your exposure to them perhaps has taught you to sense their power. Yes, unfortunate as it is, I must report that for the most part, I cannot be of major assistance in a large-scale confrontation. If it were small-scale skirmishes involving human men, then it may be a different story..."

"Then if you don't mind, I'd like to engage that enemy fleet first, and then we can continue our talk here."

"Of course. Those United Empire men are more than likely here to come capture me anyway, so your efforts are much appreciated. I shall await your return, Master." Stheno raises her right hand at us and my pair of Servants behind me. "Allow me to bestow upon you a small gift for your battle ahead, as compensation for my inability to participate directly."

The air around Stheno's outstretched hand warps slightly, and if you weren't looking at her hand specifically you would miss it, but sudden strength is infused into my cells, and the stress and soreness my body's been feeling after my trip here is abruptly kicked out as I feel reinvigorated, like I've been hit with a second wind of sorts. Indeed, around my feet a spiral of light red mana cascades in reverse, flowing up around my body before disappearing as soon as it appears. The same happens to Kiyohime, who also perks up a bit at this sudden infusion of power, interrupting her little quarrel with Tamamo, but it's the latter who apparently is the most affected, since Caster receives this buff of sorts, except the cascade of mana is doubled for her, for some reason.

"Wow ~ ! I feel like I can take on that whole fleet by myself!" Tamamo exclaims, now positively giddy with energy. "I assume this is a Servant Skill of yours, Miss Stheno?"

Stheno nods, smiling as mysteriously as ever. "Apparently my skill is doubly effective when used on others who also possess divine traits, so I figured it would be appropriate. It will not last for long, however, so I do urge you to make the most of it."

"Then we don't have time to come up with an organized plan," I tell my Servants. "Tamamo, can you really take on that fleet by yourself?"

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't kidding when I said that," Caster nods matter-of-factly. "So yes, just tell me to wipe them out and I will."

"Ooh? Trying to show off to Master? That's so very cute," Kiyohime murmurs next to her friend/rival, edging up next to her with her sleeved hand over her mouth.

"It's not showing off! I bet you I can so totally take them all out by myself," Tamamo pouts.

"Very well, I accept your wager. What are our stakes?"

"If I can't take out the whole fleet within ten minutes starting from first contact, I'll let you take my spot in Master's bedroom!"

"Are we _really_ wagering something dumb like that?" I growl at them upon hearing this. "Like, come _on."_

"Wager accepted. Lead the way, Tamamo-san," Kiyohime says quickly, hearing the annoyance in my voice and deciding that they shouldn't dwell on this further, lest I get fed up with them.

"That I will! Master, please make sure to time me, I'll get rid of everyone in no tiiiiiime ~ !"

And with that, Tamamo takes off into the air on her mirror, and Kiyo quickly transforms into her dragon form to fly after her through the air.

"I see that our hero here has captured the hearts of his Servants," Stheno smirks, and I turn around to see her giving me this clearly mocking expression of jest written on her face. "Perhaps you intend to assimilate me into your harem?"

"No, they were like that when I met them. I haven't even done anything," I bluntly reply, turning a shoulder to her and then taking off after them. Stheno's getting under my nerves, admittedly - I guess even in this world, goddesses can still sometimes be annoying and useless.

Thoughts about useless goddesses aside, I follow after Dragon Kiyo as she snakes through the air, and already I can hear the faint, distant noises of Tamamo's magical talismans going off. She certainly wasn't kidding when she said she felt like she could sink the whole enemy fleet by herself, though given who she is and how much energy she has, I certainly never doubted her in the first place. I was also going to give her a small boost of mana, similar to what I did for Matthew when we crash-landed in France in the previous Singularity, just not as roughly, but clearly Caster has no need for my assistance.

Once I reach the battlefield, Tamamo has already sunk two vessels, the flames from her explosive talismans eating away at the broken wooden planks even as they plunge past the water's surface. Enemy United Empire soldiers are littering the surface as well, though most of them who are not lucky enough to find some driftwood from their ship to hang on to will not last as long as the floating planks will due to their lack of swimming ability. Tamamo's high enough where the soldiers' arrows can't hope to reach her, and it appears that Caligula has no ability to fly like my Servants can to stop Tamamo's magical artillery.

"Tamamo!" I yell out, right after she hurls another one of her giant purple and black spirit bombs down at another ship, causing it to explode immediately on contact like it's a pile of thermite getting detonated.

"Yes, Master ~ ?" Caster turns around cheerily, very satisfied at the carnage she's been able to wreak. I briefly wonder to myself why I was even called over if Tamamo was capable of wrecking the _entire_ enemy fleet by herself.

"Which one's the boat that Caligula's on? I want you to leave that one alone for now," I ask her.

" _Oya?_ Ah, it's that one right there." Tamamo points down at the ship second over from our left. "Why, what do you want to do with him?"

"Talk to him. I wanna know why he's tryin'a fight Nero so much if he's the one obsessing over her. You heard him going off about her whenever they fought before, right?"

"I don't know if that's what you should do, Master," Tamamo tries to dissuade me, dropping her cheerfully anarchistic look for a more deeply concerned one.

"If it's about you worrying that I can't talk to him - "

"No, it's not that. After seeing how Kiyo-chan turned out after she made a contract with you, I'm confident in your ability to be able to speak to Berserkers and keep them under control," Tamamo clarifies.

"Then, what?"

"It's more for Nero's sake. She's told me earlier when I asked her about Caligula that he makes her...uncomfortable. It's like - it's like when humans talk about how they sometimes have that one weird and creepy uncle that likes them, or something like that?"

"Now how would _you_ know stories like that?"

"I-It's not my fault that I know, the Grail gives us random information about the modern world to work with!"

"And it gave you _that?"_

"Don't look at me!"

God, the Grail is fucking random sometimes.

"Either way, I wanna try to get him on our side. As bad as this sounds, I'm gonna bait him into it with Nero. While I don't have any concrete evidence that he'll do it, I'm gambling that Nero's gonna be enough of a reason to get him to abandon his post. If we can get him, we'll have another frontliner to work with, and he knows about the United Empire's plans and military that he can pass on to us."

Tamamo doesn't look sure, but she nods anyway. She probably knows already that she can't convince me otherwise.

"Then let me follow you to assist. This can go horribly wrong if it doesn't work out."

"Fine. Kiyo, follow us!"

Bellowing at Dragon Kiyohime to alert her, I hop off the platform I'm using to stand next to the floating Tamamo, who divebombs after me, and Kiyohime joins us in cue after torching another two ships to have them steadily burn themselves into the sea.

Caligula's ship is unscathed, fortunately for us, and all three of us slam into the deck, Kiyohime resuming her human form just in time. Seeing us crash-land onto the deck, the soldiers around us let out their best war cries and immediately rush us with their weapons drawn and raised, but my Servants spring to action to counter them: Tamamo has planted a talisman upon her initial impact onto the deck floor, a wind talisman that she activates as soon as she can to clear our immediate vicinity of enemy soldiers and pushes back the ones that try to charge at us afterwards, and Kiyohime, flipping open her war fan, swipes it horizontally from left to right, throwing out bullets of fire down onto the deck to keep the enemy soldiers at bay; the wind from Tamamo's talisman also works to stoke the flames that Kiyo produces, causing them to burn harder and act as a better deterrent.

As expected, though, the flames and winds don't deter Caligula himself, who roars and pounces at us as soon as he realizes we're on board, with the United Empire soldiers in his way literally diving out of the way so they don't get run over in his path. Tamamo, who's landed in front of my left, tries to step in the way to stop Caligula, but knowing that she's just a Caster and thus may not have the brute strength to match that of the enemy Berserker's, I firmly nudge Tamamo out of my own way and barely catch Caligula's monstrous punch before it connects with my nose. The sheer force of his punch and his running momentum causes my shoes to skid hard against the deck - I can physically feel the rubber in the soles wear themselves down with how much pressure I'm forced to apply to them trying to stop Caligula's attack from planting my nose into the back of my neck.

But the moment I catch Caligula's fist, I funnel mana into my hand, mana that gets converted into sizzling hot energy that Caligula can feel. But instead of trying to yank his hand away like I want him to, he instead tries going for my exposed stomach with his other fist, renewing his screams with your typical Berserker-induced rage. I quickly react by dashing backwards to avoid getting my guts manually removed from my body, and with the funneled mana in my hand, I snap at Caligula, setting off a concentrated mana explosion right in his face.

The sudden explosion catches Caligula off-guard, and he stumbles backwards too, rubbing his face fiercely to try to reorient himself. To take advantage, I flash-step right in front of him, grab his face firmly with my right hand, put my right foot behind his left, and drive him into the ground, smashing the back of his head first into the deck. His hands immediately catch my right arm, and in his frenzy out of self-defense, his grip is insanely strong, as to be expected of a Berserker, but before he can crush it, I whip out one of my Desert Eagles with my left hand and start blasting shots into his side, where hitting his lung and other organs is easiest. This weakens his grip around my arm a bit, but it's barely enough for me to wrench my arm away. My plan was to get him down to the ground, then mount him and start punching his face in repeatedly to subdue him, but I didn't quite expect it to work given that I was up against a Berserker who's easily dozens, if not hundreds of times stronger than your average human, but it was worth a try nonetheless, and best of all, I didn't wind up losing an arm because of it. Maybe it's thanks to Stheno's enhancement magic, maybe not.

"Didn't you say you were gonna try to talk to him?!" Tamamo screeches at me as both she and Kiyohime rush back over to my side, eyeing Caligula with alarm as he scrambles back up to his feet, growling fiercely still as he recovers himself.

"Yeah, _after_ we subdue him!"

"You didn't mention _that_ part!"

"I thought it was implied! And how the hell do you expect me to talk to a Zerker who's clearly gonna try gutting us after we've crashed on board his ship?"

Caligula roars again, this time so powerfully that it shakes the whole boat to the point where I almost think it's going to start capsizing, and he pounces at us again.

 _"SHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

This time Kiyohime is the one to jump to my defense with her slim, compact, and seemingly frail body of hers, and with her fan at the ready, she swings it as if it were a sword. The fan enlarges while also bleeding with molten flames so that when its owner swings it, it's a small wall of pure fire that meets Caligula head on. For a moment before they make contact I brace myself to jump to Kiyohime's defense, anticipating that Caligula, being the dumpster truck that he is, would simply crash straight through and knock Kiyohime over like she's just another pin on Friday night bowling, but on the contrary, Kiyohime bats our main enemy combatant away as if he were the bowling pin.

"Good job, Kiyo-chan!" Tamamo yells, tossing over a few of her own talismans at Caligula that stick onto him so that when he tries getting back up to his feet, Tamamo sets them off like they're remote C4 bombs, causing Caligula to get thrown down to the deck yet again. And just for good measure, Kiyohime, perhaps incensed that our enemy has gotten close to seriously wounding her Master, points her flaming fan at the enemy Berserker, letting out a hair-raising, piercing scream of anger of her own before unleashing a small but deadly stream of magic flame that douses Caligula completely, lighting him on fire.

"Tamamo, put out that fire, quick! I'll try talking to him now," I command.

"I'm telling you, Master, I'm not so sure about this!" Tamamo cries, but she faithfully does as I tell her by pulling out another talisman that generates winds strong enough to blow out the fire on Caligula, and in doing so, the powerful gusts of wind also blow out the rest of the fires on deck around us too. It also has the added side-effect of knocking down all the enemy soldiers to the deck, and for some of the unlucky ones, overboard into the water below.

While Caligula is still writhing on the ground in pain from his severe burns, I slowly step towards him, and once I'm confident that he can hear me clearly, I call out to him.

"Caligula, we can take you back to Nero, if you decide to work with us. The United Empire is not for you; your Master, whoever it is, wants you to kill Nero, which I know you don't want to do. Leave them and join us. If you do that, then I can have Nero meet you again."

I immediately notice that Caligula stops writhing at the first mention of Nero. And even before I'm done talking, the former Roman emperor slowly rises back up to his feet, and I notice this time that his lips are moving, though at first no sounds come out. Then I realize that it's not that he's not saying anything; it's that his voice is just getting progressively louder.

"...ro Nero Nero Nero..." he rambles quietly at first, but his voice is rising every time he repeats Nero's name. "...Nero Nero Nero NERO NERO NERO **NERO NERO NERO NERO _NERO NERO NERO NEROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_**

As he screams madly, a sudden surge of mana inundates the area, and it's most definitely not mana from me or either of my Servants. It's a maddening aura, but at the same time a cold, draining aura, like someone's pouring a huge bucket of the coldest ice water they could find all over me.

"Master, _get away from him - ! ! !"_ Tamamo screams at me, trying to lunge at me to drag me away, but before she can, Caligula retches his back so that his face and chest can face the sky as much as they can. The sky darkens quickly, as if a sudden eclipse is occurring, and as I look up, dark clouds are swiftly parting the way for what appears to be a disgustingly swollen bright white moon.

 **"Th-The goddess... _the goddess, yes, yes, yes, I can see - I CAN SEE HER! ! !"_** Caligula shrieks uncontrollably. _**"FLUCT...ICULUS...DIANA! ! ! ! !"**_


End file.
